tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85145959370736643522018-11-13T10:12:16.656-06:00Thoughts Of A BarbarianMatt Starkhttps://plus.google.com/109756489860852016703noreply@blogger.comBlogger71125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514595937073664352.post-19314294029140883462018-11-13T10:12:00.001-06:002018-11-13T10:12:16.610-06:00Con on the Cob 2018 After Action Debriefing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div align="center" class="separator" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RMZ3DsfKbhU/W-rx5Zxqk1I/AAAAAAAASCU/tFHW5hN4yC8mWyq82x2zN0lQtC4-P75dQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1607.JPG"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-no-proof: yes; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" o:spt="75" o:preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f"> <v:stroke joinstyle="miter"/> <v:formulas> <v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"/> <v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"/> <v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"/> <v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"/> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"/> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"/> <v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"/> <v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"/> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"/> <v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"/> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"/> <v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"/> </v:formulas> <v:path o:extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" o:connecttype="rect"/> <o:lock v:ext="edit" aspectratio="t"/></v:shapetype><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_11" o:spid="_x0000_i1035" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RMZ3DsfKbhU/W-rx5Zxqk1I/AAAAAAAASCU/tFHW5hN4yC8mWyq82x2zN0lQtC4-P75dQCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_1607.JPG" href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RMZ3DsfKbhU/W-rx5Zxqk1I/AAAAAAAASCU/tFHW5hN4yC8mWyq82x2zN0lQtC4-P75dQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1607.JPG" style='width:480pt;height:5in;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square' o:button="t"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:/Users/MATTHE~1/AppData/Local/Temp/1/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.jpg" o:title="IMG_1607"/></v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><span style="mso-ignore: vglayout;"></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RMZ3DsfKbhU/W-rx5Zxqk1I/AAAAAAAASCY/oUqo4RR6jpgNKp6G0jEjplgcmwQpsFu1ACEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_1607.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RMZ3DsfKbhU/W-rx5Zxqk1I/AAAAAAAASCY/oUqo4RR6jpgNKp6G0jEjplgcmwQpsFu1ACEwYBhgL/s640/IMG_1607.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /> <div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">First I need to thank everyone who showed up and made this convention special. You guys are the best friends ever!</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">2018's Con on the Cob was a great success for the Nerds-International crew this year, at least in my opinion. I got to see some new faces and a whole bunch of old ones. Some alcoholic consumption may have been involved also. The daily schedule were games from 9am-1pm and 3-7pm. Afterwards we usually just sat around and chatted while playing pick-up games of Zombie Dice, Epic Spell Wars, Spank The Yeti, and Joking Hazard.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This year I only ran one game and I had a blast running it. I chose to try running Blood In The Chocolate, a Lamentations of the Flame Princess adventure written by Kiel Chenier. This Willy Wonka chocolate factory was fun for everyone who played. The goal is for the characters to collect several items for a French merchant who wants to steal the secret recipe for this addictive chocolate. In this particular scenario, the players never crossed paths with Lucia, the owner of the chocolate factory. They muddled their way around the factory collecting the requested items until the opened a trapped safe where the recipe book was destroyed by a sulfuric acid trap. They also found 40,000 in gold bars so they called it a day and escaped the factory by rappelling out of a window on the second story. During all of this, one of the characters swelled up like a blueberry and another contracted the peanut brittle throat disease. This is one of those adventures you could run several times and still have a blast with.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">One of the nights we guilted Gary McCalum into running ICRPG for a few of us. Unfortunately, it was a short-lived game since Gary was still really tired from not enough sleep and James Clarke laying across the table for a photo op. Gary did a great job up until that point. Overall I'm still not sold on ICRPG. When I asked Jaime what he thought of it after playing in it on The RPG Brewery, he said it felt too much like a board game to him. I would agree after thinking about it for some time. I never liked the mechanic of one person at a time taking a turn all the time. When Jaime said board game that hit home for me. It does feel that way. I'd rather play Descent or Dark Tower than ICRPG.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I think the best game of the con that I was in was Tony Fanning's Genesys Deep Madness. We played as characters sent into an underwater complex to recover survivors and an unknown artifact. While the FFG system isn’t new to me, this game did feel different thanks to Tony's madness rules he created. It is much like the critical injury list but is dramatically different. Once you fail fear checks and accumulated 5 insanity points, you would roll on his chart and gain an insanity. This was such a great game even if we players removed some of the feeling of direness due to crazy antics.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Another notable game was Eric Lameroux's Trailer Park Shark Attack written by Karl Keesler. At first I was unsure how this game would play out. I was confident I would like it because it uses Savage Worlds but what I wasn’t sure about was the very nature of the game. Eric told us up front that your character will die. He came prepared with 24 pregenerated characters so we could respawn when we died. This game felt gonzo from the get go where I started out as a midget drug dealer with a Napoleon complex, watching Jerry Springer in my trailer when the levy broke. The trailer park gets flooded and we have to survive electric sharks. Eventually we find out that the sharks are alien inventions and the aliens crashed their flying saucer into the levy. After making our way to the ship we failed to stop the imminent alien invasion. What can I say, it's Savage Worlds, great game.</span><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">&nbsp;</span></div><div align="center" class="separator" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MJ4kqyU6q80/W-rzObyRV8I/AAAAAAAASDg/jTwZAhy5pKI4r6UpuBiOX7d8I5okUVRFgCLcBGAs/s1600/20181108_094959.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-no-proof: yes; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_10" o:spid="_x0000_i1034" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MJ4kqyU6q80/W-rzObyRV8I/AAAAAAAASDg/jTwZAhy5pKI4r6UpuBiOX7d8I5okUVRFgCLcBGAs/s320/20181108_094959.jpg" href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MJ4kqyU6q80/W-rzObyRV8I/AAAAAAAASDg/jTwZAhy5pKI4r6UpuBiOX7d8I5okUVRFgCLcBGAs/s1600/20181108_094959.jpg" style='width:240pt;height:180pt;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square' o:button="t"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:/Users/MATTHE~1/AppData/Local/Temp/1/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image002.jpg" o:title="20181108_094959"/></v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><span style="mso-ignore: vglayout;"></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MJ4kqyU6q80/W-rzObyRV8I/AAAAAAAASDk/SWwUJIgg70EZgXSAEojuNObXPi6BPa1yQCEwYBhgL/s1600/20181108_094959.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MJ4kqyU6q80/W-rzObyRV8I/AAAAAAAASDk/SWwUJIgg70EZgXSAEojuNObXPi6BPa1yQCEwYBhgL/s320/20181108_094959.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lw3ltXevFGg/W-rzNgoS_BI/AAAAAAAASDk/Ndbc3zq1qLcTStcPXDu_25NjLcQ_adOoACEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_1389.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lw3ltXevFGg/W-rzNgoS_BI/AAAAAAAASDk/Ndbc3zq1qLcTStcPXDu_25NjLcQ_adOoACEwYBhgL/s320/IMG_1389.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br /> <div align="center" class="separator" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Lw3ltXevFGg/W-rzNgoS_BI/AAAAAAAASDc/hog7GUhbJR8XpPUIu_ssEn2M1CXAR7WxwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1389.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-no-proof: yes; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_9" o:spid="_x0000_i1033" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Lw3ltXevFGg/W-rzNgoS_BI/AAAAAAAASDc/hog7GUhbJR8XpPUIu_ssEn2M1CXAR7WxwCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_1389.JPG" href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Lw3ltXevFGg/W-rzNgoS_BI/AAAAAAAASDc/hog7GUhbJR8XpPUIu_ssEn2M1CXAR7WxwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1389.JPG" style='width:180pt;height:240pt;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square' o:button="t"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:/Users/MATTHE~1/AppData/Local/Temp/1/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image003.jpg" o:title="IMG_1389"/></v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><span style="mso-ignore: vglayout;"></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I also got to try out Legend of the Five Rings Beginner Game. I had no idea what to expect since I have no prior knowledge of this game. I knew it was made by FFG so it couldn’t be horrible. This was a fun game but I doubt I'd ever get to run or play in this game again. It's Japanese cultural inspiration is amazing but the game felt almost too narrative to me. There is a dice mechanic involved but the game plays more like a story telling session. The world of Rokugan is great and I would absolutely love to read this just for the background info. The dice mechanics were easy enough to pick up that I was able to grasp it within a few rolls. This game definitely requires the right people to play with. I really enjoyed this game and would recommend it even though it lacks solid dice mechanics. It might not be the dice mechanics but there is something about this game that is missing for me.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_wGhBiGv-b0/W-ry76RoxMI/AAAAAAAASDY/l5bGnSbQQogjryesYc7f8gRWHQKnFWQqACEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_1438.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_wGhBiGv-b0/W-ry76RoxMI/AAAAAAAASDY/l5bGnSbQQogjryesYc7f8gRWHQKnFWQqACEwYBhgL/s320/IMG_1438.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /> <div align="center" class="separator" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_wGhBiGv-b0/W-ry76RoxMI/AAAAAAAASDM/NYVeQtz8nlEThA531TmYZQno_RjfEurlgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1438.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-no-proof: yes; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_8" o:spid="_x0000_i1032" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_wGhBiGv-b0/W-ry76RoxMI/AAAAAAAASDM/NYVeQtz8nlEThA531TmYZQno_RjfEurlgCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_1438.JPG" href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_wGhBiGv-b0/W-ry76RoxMI/AAAAAAAASDM/NYVeQtz8nlEThA531TmYZQno_RjfEurlgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1438.JPG" style='width:240pt;height:180pt;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square' o:button="t"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:/Users/MATTHE~1/AppData/Local/Temp/1/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image004.jpg" o:title="IMG_1438"/></v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><span style="mso-ignore: vglayout;"></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I finally got to try out Dungeon Crawl Classics. I've had the book on my shelf for a few months but haven’t had the time to read it yet. When I heard there was a slot open for this game ran by Harrison Hunt I jumped at the opportunity. As is usual for Harrison, he put on a great game. We started out by taking a job to help out a tavern owner by getting rid of a small problem for them. Then when we kill the perpetrators we find a sealed talking coffin. The mysterious man in the coffin tells us that there is an enormous amount of wealth and jewels in a far off cave. Of course we will save the world for you. Now I have to drag around this coffin all over the place because we can't open it. Finally, we make it to the cave where some dude touches an obelisk and grows like 50 times his normal size. Needless to say, we saved the world. The only problem I had with this system was the Deed mechanic and my unfamiliarity with the system in general. I kept getting confused on what to roll and when.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MxjzylIlCTw/W-rywm_ETeI/AAAAAAAASDU/88ofaNxTbhUk4u0Qum5OK3KvV7FF1fkEQCEwYBhgL/s1600/20181109_155006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MxjzylIlCTw/W-rywm_ETeI/AAAAAAAASDU/88ofaNxTbhUk4u0Qum5OK3KvV7FF1fkEQCEwYBhgL/s320/20181109_155006.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-opHq3k4JF6U/W-rywXKtC6I/AAAAAAAASDQ/CEHfuB75C_MFzYk3hGIfpKpNN6Uym_PRQCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_20181109_154833.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-opHq3k4JF6U/W-rywXKtC6I/AAAAAAAASDQ/CEHfuB75C_MFzYk3hGIfpKpNN6Uym_PRQCEwYBhgL/s320/IMG_20181109_154833.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <div align="center" class="separator" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MxjzylIlCTw/W-rywm_ETeI/AAAAAAAASDE/lB9T2BqIu7MwWrp_wbNxzx5bMqx7d9EowCLcBGAs/s1600/20181109_155006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-no-proof: yes; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_7" o:spid="_x0000_i1031" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MxjzylIlCTw/W-rywm_ETeI/AAAAAAAASDE/lB9T2BqIu7MwWrp_wbNxzx5bMqx7d9EowCLcBGAs/s320/20181109_155006.jpg" href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MxjzylIlCTw/W-rywm_ETeI/AAAAAAAASDE/lB9T2BqIu7MwWrp_wbNxzx5bMqx7d9EowCLcBGAs/s1600/20181109_155006.jpg" style='width:240pt;height:180pt;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square' o:button="t"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:/Users/MATTHE~1/AppData/Local/Temp/1/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image005.jpg" o:title="20181109_155006"/></v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><span style="mso-ignore: vglayout;"></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">&nbsp;</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I'm a fan of FFG's dice system in general but it does have its shortcomings. The next two games I'm going to mention both use it. Jaime Pearson ran us through some Realms of Terrinoth using the Gen Con adventure from last year. This was a fun game and I'd say this would replace D&amp;D 5th edition for me if I could find a game to play in or run. I'm not a huge fan of 5th edition much anymore. It is a good game but it just feels like the same old game that they keep changing and resleeving to make more money. Enough on that though. Terrinoth feels like a great high fantasy setting and the magic system from Genesys is unrivaled in my humble opinion.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The last game I played in was another one of Tony's concoctions. His Star Wars game was a continuation of last years Vanguard Squadron game. Vanguard Squadron was one of his campaigns he ran for his home group and he loved the characters so much that he started his own convention game. In this episode, the squadron is sent to recover survivors from a cave on Hoth. Well, we ran into a few Wampas. In fact, one threw me against a wall and nearly killed me at the beginning of the game (Tony had fun getting revenge on me from last year). Once we saved a couple of survivors we find out that Vader is landing and we need to provide support to fleeing transport ships by escorting them past the blockade. Once in our ships we had no problem escaping the star destroyer’s gravity well after our ace YT-2400 pilot caused a rebellion on the star destroyer (a special talent of his). This game took second place for me behind Tony's other game. Tony is truly a remarkable GM. If you have a chance to play one of his games don't pass it by.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mcmCLBEYmZA/W-ryhAF6gsI/AAAAAAAASDI/AnZyDRNx3dgNNVmGgUmshXzrQf0gZlLRgCEwYBhgL/s1600/20181110_152233.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mcmCLBEYmZA/W-ryhAF6gsI/AAAAAAAASDI/AnZyDRNx3dgNNVmGgUmshXzrQf0gZlLRgCEwYBhgL/s320/20181110_152233.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /> <div align="center" class="separator" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mcmCLBEYmZA/W-ryhAF6gsI/AAAAAAAASC8/TNyoYNc66wgE230qwAnn_HQtrcYmUf_zQCLcBGAs/s1600/20181110_152233.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-no-proof: yes; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_5" o:spid="_x0000_i1029" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mcmCLBEYmZA/W-ryhAF6gsI/AAAAAAAASC8/TNyoYNc66wgE230qwAnn_HQtrcYmUf_zQCLcBGAs/s320/20181110_152233.jpg" href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mcmCLBEYmZA/W-ryhAF6gsI/AAAAAAAASC8/TNyoYNc66wgE230qwAnn_HQtrcYmUf_zQCLcBGAs/s1600/20181110_152233.jpg" style='width:180pt;height:240pt;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square' o:button="t"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:/Users/MATTHE~1/AppData/Local/Temp/1/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image007.jpg" o:title="20181110_152233"/></v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><span style="mso-ignore: vglayout;"></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">There was also a Stephanie sighting. Our friend Stephen Dragonspawn did some cosplay on Saturday night and stole the show. This was definitely the pinnacle of the weekend. Thank you Stephen. I think some pictures will say it all for me.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n5fR-9L3G80/W-ryQb53XUI/AAAAAAAASCw/P258xUYabMUDMR5gqsV0h7pZVFdnmX5WwCEwYBhgL/s1600/11016.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n5fR-9L3G80/W-ryQb53XUI/AAAAAAAASCw/P258xUYabMUDMR5gqsV0h7pZVFdnmX5WwCEwYBhgL/s320/11016.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2BO_8xkEWKI/W-ryQi3QNdI/AAAAAAAASC4/WmtopzR1lvAmyNgPMkoZ-Ye4BMM4cNIGACEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_1575.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2BO_8xkEWKI/W-ryQi3QNdI/AAAAAAAASC4/WmtopzR1lvAmyNgPMkoZ-Ye4BMM4cNIGACEwYBhgL/s320/IMG_1575.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lOg5YP1mt5Q/W-ryQiKGG5I/AAAAAAAASC0/nEZltld2qc4wvKzhvN0qlv0m9EFe4X36QCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_2063.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lOg5YP1mt5Q/W-ryQiKGG5I/AAAAAAAASC0/nEZltld2qc4wvKzhvN0qlv0m9EFe4X36QCEwYBhgL/s320/IMG_2063.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div align="center" class="separator" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n5fR-9L3G80/W-ryQb53XUI/AAAAAAAASCg/7xEM6iWk_tswkVwnNa7l4FTgOprK6brUwCLcBGAs/s1600/11016.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-no-proof: yes; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_4" o:spid="_x0000_i1028" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n5fR-9L3G80/W-ryQb53XUI/AAAAAAAASCg/7xEM6iWk_tswkVwnNa7l4FTgOprK6brUwCLcBGAs/s320/11016.jpeg" href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n5fR-9L3G80/W-ryQb53XUI/AAAAAAAASCg/7xEM6iWk_tswkVwnNa7l4FTgOprK6brUwCLcBGAs/s1600/11016.jpeg" style='width:240pt;height:180pt;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square' o:button="t"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:/Users/MATTHE~1/AppData/Local/Temp/1/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image008.jpg" o:title="11016"/></v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><span style="mso-ignore: vglayout;"></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s320/Logo.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <div align="center" class="separator" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Logo.png" imageanchor="1"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-no-proof: yes; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_1" o:spid="_x0000_i1025" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s320/Logo.png" href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Logo.png" style='width:240pt;height:135pt;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square' o:button="t"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:/Users/MATTHE~1/AppData/Local/Temp/1/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image011.png" o:title="Logo"/></v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><span style="mso-ignore: vglayout;"></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;;" target="_blank">Nerds-International Google+ community page</a><o:p></o:p></span></div><br />Matt Starkhttps://plus.google.com/109756489860852016703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514595937073664352.post-51605518866294375372018-10-22T10:32:00.000-05:002018-10-22T13:33:08.582-05:00A Look at Stars Without Number Revised Edition; Part 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SffdEIUY7RE/W83qZ7oF_rI/AAAAAAAAR7Y/-Qu2ZNGBAAUUQzCDBSWBSy_U9mGRXXzQgCLcBGAs/s1600/SWNRE%2BCover%2BImage.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="707" data-original-width="1225" height="368" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SffdEIUY7RE/W83qZ7oF_rI/AAAAAAAAR7Y/-Qu2ZNGBAAUUQzCDBSWBSy_U9mGRXXzQgCLcBGAs/s640/SWNRE%2BCover%2BImage.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />Captains Log: Stardate 96407.88<br /><br />Just this last Friday I was preparing to write a review on Stars Withou Number Revised Edition by Kevin Crawford but when I got to the sector creation chapter I got really, really sidetracked. It took me about an hour to roll up my own sector and organize it into an excel spread sheet. Then I started looking around for a standard 8 by 10 hex sheet online and saw some unique ideas. This got my imagination going and I said screw it, I'm gonna make my own.<br /><br /><a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FqZluu2SDOHYL8fWvePZpm20u3XO_y5G" target="_blank">Here you can see my creation</a> and use it for your own if desired. This 30 page pdf took me most of the weekend to create because I was also learning a new tool, Affinity Publisher. Now, I should mention that the document is not finished. For the most part it is complete but I still need to add layers for the map. That is one shortcomming of Affinity Publisher. Creating a layered pdf seems to not be an option.<br /><br />Another option that I would have like to have seen is the ability to create text frames on a "Master" page and be able to edit each pages master text frame. Hopefully that makes sense. As an example, page 30 is the clean version of this master page. Pages 4-29 all have text in the upper right box that would have been much more simple to edit if the master page allowed a generic editable text frame on each page. This was the most tedious part of creating the document.<br /><br />You might be asking yourself why is he talking about some publishing software. Thats because about a month ago I cancelled my subscription to the Adobe Creative Cloud where I had access to all their tools. I now only have the photo suite of Adobe's tools. I was paying $50 a month to use 3 programs. Fuck that. Now I'm paying $10 a month and thats only because my wife needs Light Room. Otherwise I'd have canceled all of it. Now that I've found Affinity Serif, I'm looking at replacing photoshop with their version. It's a one time payment of $50 and you will still get updates to the software. Remember those 3 programs I said I use? Well, unfortunately Affinity Serif can only replace 2 of those for me at the moment. The last one that I need is a replacement for Adobe Acrobat Pro.<br /><br />Anyway, back to the SWN sector map. I think I'm going to do this review in a slightly different manner. I'm going to look at the tools provided to the GM first. Then we will go back and look at the player options for the game. So obviously I'm going to start with the Sector Creation chapter. It's a really simple process and Kevin Crawford did an excellent job presenting it. The first step is to figure out how many star systems are in your sector. Roll a d10 and add it to 20. These are your star systems. I rolled a 6. Generally speaking each star system will have 1 major inhabited planet and that is all we are concerned with at this point. Next up we can roll d100 for two world tags and 2d6 for each of the remaing tags of atmosphere, temperature, biosphere, population, and tech level.<br /><b><br /></b><b>EDIT:</b> I almost forgot one crucial step. We need to figure out where the stars are located. Roll a d8 for the column and a d10 for the row for each star. When I did this I came up with 7 duplicates so I just re-rolled until I had 26 unique locations.<br /><br />Each tag has a short description so lets take a look at one of the worlds I created. If you would open the bookmarks tab on my pdf you can then click on "0501 SESH". The first tag you see there is STAR TYPE. I'll get to that a little later. Next up is <b>Atmosphere: Breathable mix</b>. <span style="font-family: inherit;">"Breathable mix atmospheres can support human life without additional equipment or gengineered modification. Any world that has a human population in the millions or more almost certainly has a breathable mix atmosphere."</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">After that we have <b>Biosphere: Human-miscible biosphere</b>. <span style="font-family: inherit;">"</span>Human-miscible biospheres are those in which&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">some substantial portion of the native life is biologically&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">compatible with human nutritional needs. The&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">local plants and animals may not be tasty or terribly&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">nourishing, but they can support life without the serious&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">importation of Terran crop seeds and livestock."</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Following that is <b>Temperature: Variable Warm, with temperate places</b>. "</span>Variable temperature worlds tend to show a greater distribution of climates than other worlds, either ranging from cold to temperate levels or temperate to hot levels. This may be a climate that changes world-wide when a long, slow orbit brings the planet into proximity with a stellar primary, or it might be a world that has substantially different climatic zones spread across its surface. The north pole of one world might be a sun-blasted desert that moderates to a cool, wet equator, or an icy world might be warmed here and there by complex channels of geothermally-heated subsurface rivers. Variable temperature worlds tend to have savage weather. The mixing of hot and cold air can send ferocious cyclones and raging hurricanes across the surface of the world, some large enough to consume most of a hemisphere."<br /><br />Moving on to <b>Population: Outpost</b>. "<span style="font-family: inherit;">Outposts are rarely composed of more than a few&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">hundred or few thousand colonists at the most. Outposts&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">are either very new colonies that have not have&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">the requisite time to grow or they are uncolonized&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">worlds that just happen to have a naval or corporate&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">base on the surface."</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Here we can also see the most common <b>Tech Level: TL4; modern postech</b>. "</span>Tech level 4 worlds are the most common in human space, and their technical expertise is the baseline for modern post Silence “postech”. These worlds can create spike drives rated up to drive-3, fusion power plants, grav vehicles, simple energy weapons, and medicines that extend human life to a hundred years of vigorous good health. They can manage sophisticated gengineering on simple life forms, and some tech level 4 worlds have even attempted to improve the genetic structures of human life itself."<br /><br />And of course my favorite part about Sesh, <b>World Tags: Pleasure World of Beastmasters</b>. Each of the world tags has a short description and some inspirational plot hooks. "<b>Beastmasters: </b>The natives have extremely close bonds with the local fauna, possibly having special means of communication and control through tech or gengineering. Local animal life plays a major role in their society, industry, or warfare, and new kinds of beasts may be bred to suit their purposes. <b>Pleasure World:</b> This world provides delights either rare or impermissible elsewhere. Matchless local beauty, stunningly gengineered natives, a wide variety of local drugs, carnal pleasures unacceptable on other worlds, or some other rare delight is readily available here. Most worlds are fully aware of the value of their offerings, and the prices they demand can be in credits or in less tangible recompense."<br /><br />I really enjoyed making 26 worlds for this document but I needed slightly more. What kind of star did these worlds orbit? Seeing nothing in the book I decided to make my own 2d6 table for this.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTable15Grid2Accent1" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; text-align: center;"> <tbody><tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: -1; mso-yfti-lastfirstrow: yes;"> <td colspan="2" style="border-bottom: solid #95B3D7 1.5pt; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid #95B3D7 1.5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-bottom-themetint: 153; mso-border-bottom-themetint: 153; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 6.65in;" valign="top" width="471"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-yfti-cnfc: 5; text-align: center;"><b>Star Types roll 2d6</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 0;"> <td style="background: #DBE5F1; border-bottom: solid #95B3D7 1.0pt; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid #95B3D7 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-background-themecolor: accent1; mso-background-themetint: 51; mso-border-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-bottom-themetint: 153; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-right-themetint: 153; mso-border-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-themetint: 153; mso-border-top-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-top-themetint: 153; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="230"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-yfti-cnfc: 68; text-align: center;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">2<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="background: #DBE5F1; border-bottom: solid #95B3D7 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-background-themecolor: accent1; mso-background-themetint: 51; mso-border-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-bottom-themetint: 153; mso-border-left-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-left-themetint: 153; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-themetint: 153; mso-border-top-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-top-themetint: 153; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="241"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-yfti-cnfc: 64; text-align: center;">Binary Stars (roll again to find out type)<o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;"> <td style="border-bottom: solid #95B3D7 1.0pt; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid #95B3D7 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-bottom-themetint: 153; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-right-themetint: 153; mso-border-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-themetint: 153; mso-border-top-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-top-themetint: 153; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="230"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-yfti-cnfc: 4; text-align: center;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">3<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid #95B3D7 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-bottom-themetint: 153; mso-border-left-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-left-themetint: 153; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-themetint: 153; mso-border-top-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-top-themetint: 153; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="241"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">Red Giant<o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2;"> <td style="background: #DBE5F1; border-bottom: solid #95B3D7 1.0pt; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid #95B3D7 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-background-themecolor: accent1; mso-background-themetint: 51; mso-border-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-bottom-themetint: 153; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-right-themetint: 153; mso-border-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-themetint: 153; mso-border-top-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-top-themetint: 153; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="230"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-yfti-cnfc: 68; text-align: center;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">4-5<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="background: #DBE5F1; border-bottom: solid #95B3D7 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-background-themecolor: accent1; mso-background-themetint: 51; mso-border-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-bottom-themetint: 153; mso-border-left-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-left-themetint: 153; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-themetint: 153; mso-border-top-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-top-themetint: 153; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="241"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-yfti-cnfc: 64; text-align: center;">Red Dwarf<o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3;"> <td style="border-bottom: solid #95B3D7 1.0pt; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid #95B3D7 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-bottom-themetint: 153; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-right-themetint: 153; mso-border-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-themetint: 153; mso-border-top-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-top-themetint: 153; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="230"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-yfti-cnfc: 4; text-align: center;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">6-8<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid #95B3D7 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-bottom-themetint: 153; mso-border-left-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-left-themetint: 153; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-themetint: 153; mso-border-top-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-top-themetint: 153; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="241"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">Yellow Dwarf<o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 4;"> <td style="background: #DBE5F1; border-bottom: solid #95B3D7 1.0pt; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid #95B3D7 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-background-themecolor: accent1; mso-background-themetint: 51; mso-border-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-bottom-themetint: 153; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-right-themetint: 153; mso-border-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-themetint: 153; mso-border-top-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-top-themetint: 153; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="230"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-yfti-cnfc: 68; text-align: center;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">9-10<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="background: #DBE5F1; border-bottom: solid #95B3D7 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-background-themecolor: accent1; mso-background-themetint: 51; mso-border-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-bottom-themetint: 153; mso-border-left-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-left-themetint: 153; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-themetint: 153; mso-border-top-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-top-themetint: 153; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="241"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-yfti-cnfc: 64; text-align: center;">White Star<o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 5;"> <td style="border-bottom: solid #95B3D7 1.0pt; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid #95B3D7 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-bottom-themetint: 153; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-right-themetint: 153; mso-border-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-themetint: 153; mso-border-top-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-top-themetint: 153; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="230"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-yfti-cnfc: 4; text-align: center;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">11<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid #95B3D7 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-bottom-themetint: 153; mso-border-left-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-left-themetint: 153; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-themetint: 153; mso-border-top-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-top-themetint: 153; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="241"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">Blue Giant<o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 6; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;"> <td style="background: #DBE5F1; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right: solid #95B3D7 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-background-themecolor: accent1; mso-background-themetint: 51; mso-border-bottom-alt: windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-right-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-right-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-right-themetint: 153; mso-border-right-themetint: 153; mso-border-style-alt: solid; mso-border-top-alt: #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-top-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-top-themetint: 153; mso-border-top-themetint: 153; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="230"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-yfti-cnfc: 68; text-align: center;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">12<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="background: #DBE5F1; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-background-themecolor: accent1; mso-background-themetint: 51; mso-border-bottom-alt: windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-left-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-left-themetint: 153; mso-border-left-themetint: 153; mso-border-right-alt: windowtext .5pt; mso-border-style-alt: solid; mso-border-top-alt: #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid #95B3D7 .25pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-top-themecolor: accent1; mso-border-top-themetint: 153; mso-border-top-themetint: 153; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="241"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-yfti-cnfc: 64; text-align: center;">Variable Star (roll again to find out type)<o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>I'm almost done with sector creation now. Well, essentially I'm done. The only thing left is to fill in the details of each planet. As you can see on my pdf that I didn't fill in the bottom section. This is because I will fill it in as players explore those worlds. It makes more sense to me to do it this way. Perhaps the players will have some influence on details of these planets or other star system details. Within the Sector Creation chapter there is a section on Additional System Points of Interest. This will help flesh out the details of the individual star systems. It includes topics such as adding other worlds and other points of interest, as well as random tables for each topic.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Next time I'm going to take a look at Factions so stay tuned!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">P.S.&nbsp; Please feel free to criticize and comment on the blog about the pdf. I would appreciate any feedback and suggestions. Also, please go over to John Polack's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/giddoen" target="_blank">Mr. Mean Speaks Youtube channel</a>. I hear he's going to do a new video on the game Faith 2.0 soon.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s320/Logo.png" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;;" target="_blank">Nerds-International Google+ community page</a></div></div></div>Matt Starkhttps://plus.google.com/109756489860852016703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514595937073664352.post-60052326016511404512018-10-15T11:31:00.000-05:002018-10-15T11:31:32.039-05:00Tales from the Loop post game thoughts<br />This past Friday I was blessed with the opportunity of running some friends through Tales from the Loop: Roleplaying in the 80's that never was. The game turned out great in my mind and I had a blast running this for <a href="https://www.twitch.tv/therpgbrewery" target="_blank">The RPG Brewery</a>. The players were fantastic and they all got on board the train. I devised this mystery myself and just thought I'd share my notes with everyone. At first I made a different mystery that was more Lost Boys themed but I quickly scrapped that as I wanted more of a Halloween themed adventure. Luckily the game got posponed and I had time to come up with another idea. I'm so glad that happened eventhough it sucked because I was really hyped to run the game two weeks ago.<br /><br />If you haven't seen the video yet, I suggest you go watch it <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEv-zeoszGE" target="_blank">here on Youtube</a>. The basic premise of the game was the 1982 classic Poltergeist movie written by Steven Speilberg. Overall I'd say the game went fairly well. I planned for 3 clue scenes but the third one wasn't needed. I did think the game could have gone a little more smoothly but that might just be my own perception. The players said they enjoyed it so it was a success in my books. There was one image near the end of the game that couldn't be seen in the video because we did it all theatre of the mind so VTT's were not used and Skype can't do screen sharing. The players had just crossed through the portal and as they turned around to look at their envrionment they see a tribe of native american warriors on horseback charging straight at them.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gHebdzm8Qf4/W8S3PIWQN6I/AAAAAAAAR6Y/9CmgKM48s9gwN5nCSEfmGk1ozzaeYkoJgCLcBGAs/s1600/Native%2BAmerican%2BTribe.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="600" height="288" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gHebdzm8Qf4/W8S3PIWQN6I/AAAAAAAAR6Y/9CmgKM48s9gwN5nCSEfmGk1ozzaeYkoJgCLcBGAs/s640/Native%2BAmerican%2BTribe.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />If I were to run it again I'd shorten the name of the ride to Troll Tunnel or Troll Twister. A mistake I made during the game came near the end in the showdown. Kelly decided to use her Lead skill for the showdown in order to add dice to the other players dice pools. What I did wrong was let her keep her successes for the total showdown accumulation. The showdown specifically requires the Lead skill to either add to the total success or give additional dice to the other players, not both. At least I know now for future reference. As you can see below, my notes are rather short and just give the truth of the mystery. Everything else was more or less adhoc. I had some ideas but I wanted to see where the players took the game.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fdVWEXV3rhg/W8S3WbApCII/AAAAAAAAR6c/Vb_mbu1ckg43qt8La5KdquRbATI9IA25ACLcBGAs/s1600/Poltergeist%2BTftL%2BMystery.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="772" data-original-width="582" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fdVWEXV3rhg/W8S3WbApCII/AAAAAAAAR6c/Vb_mbu1ckg43qt8La5KdquRbATI9IA25ACLcBGAs/s640/Poltergeist%2BTftL%2BMystery.png" width="482" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Next time on Thoughts Of A Barbarian I think I might do a bit of a science fiction RPG review. I have Stars Without Number by Kevin Crawford in mind but there is another I might do first. I'd also like to mention that the weekend of November 30th Hobbs &amp; Friends of the OSR are hosting an online gaming convention called Hobbsapalooza. Check out <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NUYOJTEM_Y&amp;feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">this video</a> for more information.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Don't forget to come out and join the Nerds-Interantional at Con on the Cob in Richfield Ohio this November. Our tables will be located in the Atrium near the swimming pool. I'll be running some Lamentations of the Flame Princess and the new Judge Dredd game. I had an amazing time last year and this year should be even better.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s320/Logo.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;;" target="_blank">Nerds-International Google+ community page</a></div>Matt Starkhttps://plus.google.com/109756489860852016703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514595937073664352.post-82103056602047809582018-10-10T12:00:00.001-05:002018-10-10T12:00:40.198-05:00Contest Winner and Blog Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5AU_al7L5ZI/W74gTDm-M2I/AAAAAAAAR5M/POGzBiBjLzMBZbAaoOy8A-9HPFsdBP5hQCLcBGAs/s1600/20181010_104045.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5AU_al7L5ZI/W74gTDm-M2I/AAAAAAAAR5M/POGzBiBjLzMBZbAaoOy8A-9HPFsdBP5hQCLcBGAs/s640/20181010_104045.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Before I get to the contest itself I'd like to take a moment to update you on this blog. With the tumultuous advent of our Google + milieu disappearing in the next 10 months, I've been contemplating the end of the blog. Let me rephrase that. I'm anticipating Google's blogger platform to go by the wayside soon after Google + shuts down. Why you may ask? Because Google is a money making enterprise and it makes good business sense to stop spending resources on products that don't make a profit. I don't see how Blogger makes Google any money, unless some of them are providing some sort of advertising revenue. Therefore, at this stage I'm trying to figure out if I should start moving the blog over to WordPress, start my own web page, or give up entirely. At this stage I'm working on backing up all of my articles for archival purposes. Whether or not I jump ship to another platform is yet to be seen. So what this means to you right now is absolutely nothing. You won't see a change for some time to come but I just wanted you to be aware. Well, at least the 9 of you anyway.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To be honest, I was worried that choosing a winner would be extremely difficult but that isn't the case. I thought this contest was broad enough and interesting enough that I would have to sift through quite a few submissions. I was wrong. I don't know if its just lack of interest, too lazy to make an effort, or afraid of looking bad that people didn't submit anything. Maybe they thought the prize was crap. Only you can tell me what went wrong. Please do tell me so I can make it better next time. I mean, who doesn't want free stuff?</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Any who. On to the winner's. Yes I said winner'S. When I said it wasn't difficult to pick I wasn't kidding. All three submissions are winners in my book. This was a last minute change because it was clear that the people who submitted entries put in a bunch of effort. While first place will get the aforementioned prize, second and third will get a pair of custom dice, a sticker, and an iron on patch. Second and third place will also get one of Thaddeus Moore's OSR patches (randomly determined by me).</span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pHuEFwg27eg/W74h5Cia-uI/AAAAAAAAR5Y/6Hle27LH3XAITeOuOTh4m2xzDIkyCYp5wCLcBGAs/s1600/20181010_104210.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1211" data-original-width="1600" height="484" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pHuEFwg27eg/W74h5Cia-uI/AAAAAAAAR5Y/6Hle27LH3XAITeOuOTh4m2xzDIkyCYp5wCLcBGAs/s640/20181010_104210.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NkOQLjWc1FY/W23FIHuCRsI/AAAAAAAAQ3w/jZ7nS1b8mgMJjAw73-Ai00Q74y1iCcYkgCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/20180810_111544.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="934" data-original-width="1600" height="372" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NkOQLjWc1FY/W23FIHuCRsI/AAAAAAAAQ3w/jZ7nS1b8mgMJjAw73-Ai00Q74y1iCcYkgCPcBGAYYCw/s640/20180810_111544.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On to the submissions.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The first submission I received was from Marco (I'm not sure if he wants his full name here). At first glance it looks like it was just whipped up in a few minutes but clearly some thought was put into it. I really dig the pumpkin layout of the wizard laboratory.</span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bM9d4ihJKaw/W74lttKFNVI/AAAAAAAAR5o/79vJ6YcmyB8ZJLCLo9RkP8E7QI6V-PVLACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20180919_210103.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bM9d4ihJKaw/W74lttKFNVI/AAAAAAAAR5o/79vJ6YcmyB8ZJLCLo9RkP8E7QI6V-PVLACLcBGAs/s640/IMG_20180919_210103.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span id="goog_1813006497"></span><span id="goog_1813006498"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The second submission I received was from Harrison Hunt of the famous Tabletop Twats (or infamous, depending on how you look at it). His submission was a little more unique than I envisioned. As a matter of fact I'm still unsure if his is a joke or not because I asked him to provide me with a brief write up of how he did it and what his inspiration was. I've yet to hear back from him on this. Any way, his submission can be found at&nbsp;<a href="https://sinemora1.bandcamp.com/track/labyrinth-lord-single">https://sinemora1.bandcamp.com/track/labyrinth-lord-single</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last but not least, Eric Lamoureux from The Wild Die Podcast submitted an entry. His submission stood out to me as I thought he followed the guidelines more rigidly than the others. He took the time to snap in-progress pictures and teach us how to do what he did. You can find his submission on his blog at&nbsp;<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://goodbadskinny.blogspot.com/2018/09/tabletop-crafting-tower.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1539274326054000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHHU_qdnpt2OG3qVl5mJzWftMiyFg" href="http://goodbadskinny.blogspot.com/2018/09/tabletop-crafting-tower.html" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://goodbadskinny.blogspot.<wbr></wbr>com/2018/09/tabletop-crafting-<wbr></wbr>tower.html</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And the winner is... Drum Roll Please...</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Eric Lamoureux</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Congratulations to everyone who participated and thank you for your efforts. I really enjoyed seeing them.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Don't forget to come on out to Con on the Cob in November and hang out with some Nerds. We will have our own section with a few tables in the atrium near the swimming pool. Who knows, maybe you can meet some famous people like Stephen from <a href="http://thedragonstoolbox.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">The Dragons Toolbox</a> or the elusive beer drinking bird watcher from <a href="https://imaginaryramblings.podbean.com/" target="_blank">Imaginary Ramblings</a></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s320/Logo.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />Matt Starkhttps://plus.google.com/109756489860852016703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514595937073664352.post-91568332690965479232018-08-30T15:00:00.000-05:002018-08-30T15:00:20.606-05:00It's Contest Time<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k-xsmvALKtc/W4gC_gqYvvI/AAAAAAAARZk/OSZnX1QYBDYMESfZcNRpkc0vd0QWS2-yACLcBGAs/s1600/universal_monsters_set.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1000" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k-xsmvALKtc/W4gC_gqYvvI/AAAAAAAARZk/OSZnX1QYBDYMESfZcNRpkc0vd0QWS2-yACLcBGAs/s640/universal_monsters_set.jpg" width="531" /></a></div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Some of you know that I like to do RPG craft projects. Whether its painting miniatures, making foam board projects, or anything else crafty to do with the RPG hobby. For the entire month of September I want to have a contest where people can show me their crafting skills. With the fall just around the corner and Halloween coming up, one of my favorite times of the year, I want to see some spooky crafts.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">What I'm looking for are a classic Halloween monster or scary terrain project you made yourself. It could be a miniature you painted, some terrain you made and painted, an adventure module you wrote, or even a drawing you made. I want to see pictures of the project from start to finish and a brief write up of whats going on in each of the photographs. Pretend you're writing a how to blog post for someone who has never done any crafting before. If it's an adventure module I want to hear your thought process on how you came up with the idea and how you worked out the writing process.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The contest deadline will be October 8th or Columbus Day for the folks in the United States. I will then select a winner and announce them on this blog. The winners entry will be showcased on the blog and will also get some cool shit. I'll send them a brand new set of Ultra Pro roleplaying dice and I'll throw in a pair of extra d6's to make it an OSR set. But wait, these extra d6's arent just any old ordinary dice. No, they are exclusive Thoughts Of A Barbarian custom dice. One translucent blue and one smoke colored dice. To go along with the dice, you'll also get a softcover copy of White Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game. Then on top of that I'll throw in a card game. That's right. You will get a freaking cool card game, Tournament at Camelot. That’s nearly a $30 value.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">You can send your submissions to&nbsp;<b>ThoughtsOfABarbarian@gmail.com</b>. Make sure to put "Fall Creativity Contest 2018" in the subject line. You don't need to provide any personal information as I will contact the winner after the contest is over. I've also just created a G+ community for my blog where you can share your thoughts and ideas.&nbsp;<a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/115504194442633970239" target="_blank">You can find that right here.</a>&nbsp;If the email file is too big, you can always put it in a Dropbox or Google Drive and send me the link via email.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I look forward to seeing what you guys and gals come up with.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Be sure to head over to the Nerds-International Google + community and don't forget about NIV Con on September 15th and 16th. You don't need to be a member to sign up to run or play in games. So head on over to the&nbsp;<a href="https://nerdsinternationalvirtualcon.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">sign up page here.</a>&nbsp;I look forward to hearing some new voices or even seeing new faces during the online convention.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><o:p></o:p> <br /><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Oh, and one more announcement. Come join the Nerds-International at&nbsp;<a href="https://cononthecob.com/">Con on the Cob</a>&nbsp;this year. It’s in Richfield OH, at the Days Inn &amp; Suites. We will be in the Atrium by the pool. I’ll be running an OSR game on Thursday afternoon and a yet to be determined game on Friday morning. Both of my games are off the books so come over, say hello, and join us in some fun games.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s320/Logo.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;;" target="_blank">Nerds-International Google+ community page</a></div>Matt Starkhttps://plus.google.com/109756489860852016703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514595937073664352.post-48996236381451635152018-08-20T12:56:00.000-05:002018-08-20T12:56:30.465-05:00Can you hear the Lamentations?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_5Dig5AOHnM/W3q4UhnA78I/AAAAAAAARFg/poI-8xhXCAkkD3Tr4KQMR_ERaEqcj0MNgCLcBGAs/s1600/20180820_074508.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1565" data-original-width="1600" height="390" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_5Dig5AOHnM/W3q4UhnA78I/AAAAAAAARFg/poI-8xhXCAkkD3Tr4KQMR_ERaEqcj0MNgCLcBGAs/s400/20180820_074508.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;">As I’ve been getting into the OSR scene, I noticed that there was some controversy over a game called Lamentations of the Flame Princess. To be honest, at first I made a snap judgement that this game was not for me as it appeared to be predisposed to an attempt to shock the readers with graphic images. I had only read a few posts on a forum up to this point so when I saw the book in my FLGS I picked it up to look at it. I put it right back down into the bin because I saw a $25 price tag on this thin little book. I know, the cost shouldn’t have been a factor and I know several publishers that would scold me for making this statement but I’m being honest here. That thought made me think twice about it and picked it back up before I was heading out the door. As I flipped through the book, I was astounded by the amazing artwork and construction quality of the book.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;">Even though this book is 176 pages, its A5 size and page thickness made it look like a puny little thing. I think this is where my cost vs. matter kicked in and I bought it. This book is a hardcover with a smyth sewn binding that lays flat easily and every part of the book is expertly utilized. The inside front and back covers have charts and tables that continue on to the flyleaf and include artwork on the normally blank backside. The quality of this book is A+ top notch. My only wish would be to have a ribbon bookmark included. To me this would set it apart from the rest of the competition. Well, that and an edge index. Speaking of an index, this book is missing one. Not to fret though, the table of contents is very thorough.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;">As soon as I got home, I started reading this gem. Right away, I noticed that there wasn’t any kind of theme or background info included. Before I continued reading, I needed to do some more research. That means trying to find interviews of the author James Edward Raggi IV. What I found out is that the overall feel of the game was intended to be a weird horror set in the real world 17<sup>th</sup>century Earth. When I heard that, I was like oh, ok, that makes sense now and the choice of art throughout the book resembles that. I think the fact that there isn’t a setting included in the book is a good selling point for me. This is the rules and magic book and the lack of a setting allows me to use this in any setting I desire.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EB7DgLuxckc/W3q2gxGu-bI/AAAAAAAARFY/7Evw2PKexXA8XzgPHJXEd3Tu2QSCxt24QCEwYBhgL/s1600/20180819_141617.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EB7DgLuxckc/W3q2gxGu-bI/AAAAAAAARFY/7Evw2PKexXA8XzgPHJXEd3Tu2QSCxt24QCEwYBhgL/s320/20180819_141617.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;">Also of note is that the support materiel for Lamentations of the Flame Princess (LotFP) is not a unified product line. This is much like Savage Worlds in the fact that new supplements don’t use the same setting and are vastly different. For more information on this go to the <a href="https://www.lotfp.com/RPG/about">LotFP webpage ABOUT tab</a> or just click on the hyperlink. As far as I can tell, LotFP is based off the D&amp;D B/X rules with his own twists included. For more information on B/X, <a href="https://thoughtsofabarbarian.blogspot.com/2018/08/back-in-ossr.html">see my previous post</a>. It should also be noted that I saw recommendations on line to be a little familiar with the B/X rules because it would help me to understand the LotFP rules better. I decided to forego this advice because I wanted to see how well the book stands alone on its own.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;">Back to the book. The first criticism I have that jumped out at me were the page numbers. Say what? What do you mean the page numbers? I know that seems like such a trivial thing to criticize but it really, really, irritates the shit out of me. The book has two different locations on the page where the numbers can be located. On most pages they are on the top outer edge. At the start of a new section they are at the bottom center of the page. Then you have instances where the pages don’t even have numbers on them. Why did this irritate me so much? It’s because every time I flipped through the book to find a certain page number I didn’t know where to look. Scanning the page to find the number makes me feel lost. Sometimes I even had to count pages backwards to find the right page.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;">LotFP character creation is straightforward and shouldn’t surprise anyone. They did change the Thief class to a Specialist and allow the Specialist to start with points to use for improving skills. All classes start with a 1 in 6 chance for all skills. Some classes like the Dwarf will increase a skill. Yes, they are still using race as class in this game. Even though the game is intended to be real world 17<sup>th</sup> century Earth, he included Dwarf, Elf, and Halfling classes. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of the race as class of D&amp;D old but you can remove it or ban its use if you want to in your game. There also appears to be a typo in the description of the Specialist on page 17. It lists the skills and that everyone starts at 1 in 6 but they omitted the 1 in 6 next to the sneak attack skill. This did confuse me a bit at first but luckily, there is an excellent cheat sheet for character creation in the back of the book on pages 166-167. This cheat sheet is invaluable. If you’re starting a game up, I suggest you copy these two pages and give them to each player.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uXpQFXtiyds/W3r_CyuivUI/AAAAAAAARFs/JbsW3ZwgV0gaV0AyXBU0U6P4bZEKP9MeACLcBGAs/s1600/20180819_141441.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uXpQFXtiyds/W3r_CyuivUI/AAAAAAAARFs/JbsW3ZwgV0gaV0AyXBU0U6P4bZEKP9MeACLcBGAs/s320/20180819_141441.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif;">My next bout of confusion comes on page 35. Here we see rules on some hazards such as ability score loss, aging, and diseases. My problem comes from the table in the upper right corner of the page. Here we see a chart that references the aging rules, which could be important if magical effects cause a character to age rapidly. The chart gives the starting age that a character must make a saving throw versus Paralyzation, at what age there are penalties, and how often they are made. The table has all the information except that the interval, or how often to make a save, is just a number. It doesn’t tell me what the number means. Am I supposed to have the player make the save every round, every day, or every year? I suppose I’d just make something up during the game but I would expect this to be defined in the rules.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;">This next little bit is a slight departure from the old skool D&amp;D, at least I think so anyway (I’m probably wrong). Character death doesn’t occur at 0 HP. Instead, you are unconscious at 0. When your character reaches -3 HP, it is mortally wounded and <b>will </b>die in 1d10 minutes. If your character reaches -4 HP it is dead, dead, dead. Another great little feature is the language skill. Even if your character doesn’t have a known language listed on the sheet, you can always roll to see if you understand it. There is a 1 in 6 chance your character can understand a foreign language. This roll is also affected by the characters Intelligence modifier. A +1 Int modifier means that your character has a 2 in 6 chance of understanding the language.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;">I’m not going to go into detail on all of them but there are a total of 9 skills available for everyone to use. They are Architecture, Bushcraft, Climb, Languages, Search, Sleight of Hand, Sneak Attack, Stealth, and Tinker. Tinkering is important for the specialist because this is what is used to disarm traps and unlock doors. There is a caveat of course, the character must be able to see the device they are trying to disarm or unlock. Things like a pressure plate can’t be disarmed because the only way to see the mechanism is to activate the trap. “A character gets one attempt to use Tinkering on any particular object. If that one attempt fails, the character must gain a level before attempting to manipulate that object again.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xakpNiZcuo8/W3q2dTFK2hI/AAAAAAAARFM/lkGt0BRIvvMmUiJYWdALNggTOpROmE5qwCEwYBhgL/s1600/20180819_140708.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1076" data-original-width="1600" height="215" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xakpNiZcuo8/W3q2dTFK2hI/AAAAAAAARFM/lkGt0BRIvvMmUiJYWdALNggTOpROmE5qwCEwYBhgL/s320/20180819_140708.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;">It’s refreshing to see that I’m not the only one who wants maritime rules in their game and Mr. Raggi does too. Next up is a four-page spread on Maritime Adventure rules that start on page 43. Here we have ship stats, water conditions, manning the ships, and encounters at sea. Encounters at sea include chases, ship-to-ship combat, ramming, and boarding. It’s in the ramming rules where I came upon another oversight. The ramming rules are separated into two categories, small and large ships. The problem is that these categories aren’t defined. I didn’t see anywhere, where he says these ships are small and these ships are large. This is important because smaller ships do less damage than larger ships when ramming. If I had to make a judgement call on the spot, I’d say ships that require a crew of 20 or less are considered small but that’s just my opinion and others may say that 75 or less is small.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;">It wouldn’t be D&amp;D B/X if we didn’t have retainers, or cannon fodder as it’s more commonly known as. LotFP has five pages of retainers including a chart on the first page followed by a short description of each type. There are 27 different retainers detailed here and their loyalty/morale rules confused me a bit here as well. This confusion was short lived though as I kept reading these particular rules were better defined nine pages later. I’m not really sure why people do this because this happens more that you’d think. It’s kinda like acronyms, first you define the acronym then you can use it. Same goes for rules. First defined the rules then reference back to them later.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;">Following the Retainer section is one on property and financial investment. This is an interesting idea to include in the rules but these really should have been put in the appendix. Even though they seem fun, they would rarely be used. Characters with a substantial amount of disposable wealth can buy properties and make investments that will have an annual return/loss. With the roll to see how it turns out only happening annually in game, I would certainly forget about it and would rely on the player remembering for me.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;">Next up are some encounter rules. Again, I haven’t brushed up on the B/X rules so if this is standard fare forgive me. Spell casters in particular will have a slight problem if they plan to cast anything in combat. Casting the spell takes an entire round and the caster can’t move. Then at the start of the next round, before initiative, the spell activates (unless the spell is labeled as instantaneous, then it goes off immediately). This only works if the spell caster doesn’t take any damage during the round of combat, as this will negate the spell. Does it use up the spell slot if my caster took damage during the attempt? I don’t know the answer to that one. As a referee, I’d say no.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;">Oh, and firing missile weapons into a melee combat with your friends is an easy way to gain more enemies. Everybody in the melee has a chance to be hit by the missile. The referee randomly assigns a number to each combatant and rolls a d6 to see who is hit. If the shooter takes a full round to aim then the enemy combatant counts as two people for the purposes of determining who gets hit. I’m pretty sure this rule is in B/X.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;">The oil and fire rules seem a little too conditional to me. When you throw a lit oil flask and hit the opponent, you roll 1d4 damage. If you rolled a 4 for damage then the enemy has to make a Breath Weapon saving throw. If the saving throw fails then the victim must take an additional 1d4 damage on his next action. If this comes up a 4 again, they are engulfed in flames taking 1d8 damage every round thereafter.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;">After the eight pages of full color, full-page illustrations, we come to the start of the magic section. Just like the rest of the book, those color illustrations are fabulous by the way. The magic section pretty much rounds up the rest of the book except for the appendix. First up are the Clerics, they can cast any spell on their spell list and don’t use spell books. A first level Cleric can cast any 1<sup>st</sup> level spell. Each day they must pray for their divine powers at a rate of 1 hour per casting level (otherwise known as memorizing spells). Once they cast a spell, it is lost from memory and must re-memorize it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FqCsFDiCZGc/W3q2aXYzvGI/AAAAAAAARFM/PPJC3_G9l98IpdXRqcYgpc2zqgbeYdUlACEwYBhgL/s1600/20180813_134103.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="829" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FqCsFDiCZGc/W3q2aXYzvGI/AAAAAAAARFM/PPJC3_G9l98IpdXRqcYgpc2zqgbeYdUlACEwYBhgL/s400/20180813_134103.jpg" width="206" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;">Magic-Users start with 4 spells in their spellbook, which are Read Magic and 3 more randomly selected (roll a d20 three times) first level spells. Elves start with only Read Magic in their spellbook. Just like the Cleric, Magic-Users must prepare their spells. They must study their spellbook for 1 hour per casting level at which time they have memorized their spells for the day. Again, once the spell is cast, it no longer is available for use until re-memorized the next day. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;">These magic rules effectively make casters useless for the first few levels. 1<sup>st</sup>level is 1 spell slot, 2<sup>nd</sup> level is 2 spell slots, and so on. This really sucks and it would pretty much make the supplement Vaginas Are Magic (VAM) a requirement in my game. VAM allows casters to use unprepared spells even if they are out of spell slots for the day. This comes a risk though. Hence, Risky Casting, the caster must make a Magic saving throw or suffer random consequences. The rest of the magic section is dedicated to the spell lists and descriptions of the spells. I’m not going to cover those but there are some really fun ones like summon. You never know what you’re going to summon or if you’ll even be in control once it gets here.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;">The last section of the book is the appendix, which contains a glossary, an 8-page section on firearm rules, and the character creation cheat sheet. I’m glad the firearm section was moved to the appendix. That makes if feel more like optional rules than if they were in the main rules section. No, there aren’t any modern firearms included. They’re all of the muzzle loading variety.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;">Would I recommend this book to anyone? Absolutely! The production value of the book alone makes the price worth the purchase. The pdf is thoroughly bookmarked and easy to navigate. With a digital edition only costing $5, I say you should not be without it. There are some minor issues I have with it but I can overlook them. The writing is concise and easy to understand. It adds more crunch than the White Box Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game (WBFMAG), but that is to be expected since they are based on different versions of D&amp;D. I would say LotFP could almost be my favorite OSR version. That spot still belongs to WBFMAG. There are some free supplements on the LotFP webpage, which I suggest you grab if you’re interested in this game. There are two I suggest at a minimum; the <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/148012/LotFP-Referee-Book-old-Grindhouse-Edition">old Grindhouse Edition LotFP Referee Book</a> and <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/214470/Vaginas-are-Magic">Vaginas are Magic</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;">I would be remiss if I didn’t mention <a href="https://dungeonsanddonuts.itch.io/weird-on-the-waves">Weird on the Waves</a>, a LotFP supplement book by Kiel Chenier. He is currently taking pre orders for his weird sea adventuring rules which sound like fun. As far as I know, he’s only planning on releasing a digital version which only costs $5.99.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif;">Be sure to head over to the Nerds-International Google + community and don't forget about NIV Con on September 15th and 16th. You don't need to be a member to sign up to run or play in games. So head on over to the&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;"><a href="https://nerdsinternationalvirtualcon.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">sign up page here.</a>&nbsp;I look forward to hearing some new voices or even seeing new faces during the online convention.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif;">Oh, and one more announcement. Come join the Nerds-International at <a href="https://cononthecob.com/">Con on the Cob</a> this year. It’s in Richfield OH, at the Days Inn &amp; Suites. We will be in the Atrium by the pool. I’ll be running an OSR game on Thursday afternoon and a yet to be determined game on Friday morning. Both of my games are off the books so come over, say hello, and join us in some fun games.</span><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s320/Logo.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;;" target="_blank">Nerds-International Google+ community page</a></div>Matt Starkhttps://plus.google.com/109756489860852016703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514595937073664352.post-84244574273983852442018-08-10T12:51:00.000-05:002018-08-10T12:51:02.125-05:00Back in the O.S.S.R.<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0UDJIZVbK7Y/W20XDnsD6BI/AAAAAAAAQ2I/usYJHbGvpP0dhp3W-IOCyQGTxVnZSiD2wCLcBGAs/s1600/OSSR_Blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="359" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0UDJIZVbK7Y/W20XDnsD6BI/AAAAAAAAQ2I/usYJHbGvpP0dhp3W-IOCyQGTxVnZSiD2wCLcBGAs/s1600/OSSR_Blog.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Hey everybody, it's been awhile since my last blog post. I've had lots of ideas for new blog posts but my interests have been shifting gears all over the place for the last couple of months and I hadn't been able to focus on the blog. First off, my blog had its one-year birthday back in March and I was going to do a contest give away to celebrate but it slipped past so quickly and never got around to it. So keep an eye out for that because it's coming real soon.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Hang on a sec, I gotta go look through my G+ feed to see everything I was doing 9 weeks ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Ok, I'm back. Some of the blog ideas I had in mind are Dark Places &amp; Demogorgons from Bloat Games, The Fall of Delta Green from Pelgrane Press, White Box Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game by Seattle Hill Games, Leagues of Gothic Horror by Triple Ace Games, Saga of the Goblin Horde: Countdown deck from Zadmar Games, White Star: Galaxy Edition and The Hero's Journey Fantasy Roleplaying from Barrel Rider Games, Wrath and Glory from Ulisses Spiele, Cartoon Action Hour from Spectrum Games, For Coin &amp; Blood from Gallant Knight Games, Astonishing Swordsmen And Sorcerers Of Hyperborea from North Wind Adventures, The Pirates Guide to Freeport from Green Ronin, I was a guest on the Finding the Narrative podcast,&nbsp;I also worked with Pete Spahn on a <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1sW9eM0jBoxvqBZ41IBk4B7U0HKlLhgh4" target="_blank">GM aide for WWII: Operation Whitebox</a>, and I did some cartography for the <a href="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/248543/Undead-Island?term=undead+island&amp;test_epoch=0" target="_blank">Undead Island module from Cyclops Games.</a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Whew, as you can see I was all over the place the last two months. If you couldn't tell from the blog title, I've been looking at OSR games more frequently over the past couple of months (if that title doesn't make you think of the Beatles then you're lame brah!) For those that don't know, OSR stands for Old School Renaissance, Old School Revival, or Old School Roleplaying depending on who you talk to. This is an idea of going back to the roots of fantasy role playing. As I delved deeper into OSR I learned that I've played some of these games not realizing they were categorized as OSR. Particularly a game I ran for close to a year falls into this category. Castles &amp; Crusades, which I've blogged about in the past uses the SIEGE Engine mechanic. Another OSR game I've wanted to play but never did was Swords &amp; Wizardry (S&amp;W). Instead I "borrowed" lots of S&amp;W content to use in my C&amp;C game. The great thing about OSR is that most if not all of the modules and creatures are cross compatible.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Hmmm. I think this is going to be a rather lengthy post.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">As I was looking more into these OSR games I started wondering what is so different from one to the next. Do I need OSRIC (Old School Reference and Index Compilation), Labyrinth Lord, S&amp;W, C&amp;C, White Box, AD&amp;D, or any of the other retro-clones out there? For those that haven't looked into it, there is a big list of games out there. So, what’s the difference between them? Basically, what it comes down to is which one suits you best. Each one is attempting to clone the best parts of some version of D&amp;D and insert their own "house rules".<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In order to figure out what the retro-clones are trying to emulate, we must first look at the progression of the D&amp;D books. First there was Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. They wrote the original 3 Dungeons &amp; Dragons volumes (OD&amp;D) or white box as it is commonly referred to. Then that was followed up with 5 supplements. These OD&amp;D supplements are Greyhawk, Blackmoor, Eldritch Wizardry, Gods Demi-Gods and Heroes, and Swords &amp; Spells.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Next up is the Basic Set. This particular set gets a little confusing as there were multiple versions released. The first version of Dungeons &amp; Dragons Basic Set is written by John Holmes, a few years later Tom Moldvay writes one. Around the same time as Moldvay, David Cook comes along and authors the Expert Set. This is commonly called B/X (Moldvay Basic/Cook Expert). A couple of years later Frank Mentzer comes out and writes a whole slew of stuff. First, he writes the Basic Set (commonly called the Red Box), then he writes the Expert Set, the Companion Set, the Master Rules, and the Immortal Rules. These 5 items from Frank Mentzer are commonly referred to as BECMI.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">At the same time the Dungeons &amp; Dragons Basic Set was released, TSR also carried a second line of D&amp;D. This was called Advanced Dungeons &amp; Dragons (AD&amp;D). AD&amp;D had many books and supplements from 1977 on through to 1988. In 1989 Advance Dungeons &amp; Dragons Second Edition is released. Then in 2000, the 3rd edition comes out closely followed by v3.5 which lasted until the 4th edition is released in 2008. That finally brings us to the current 5th edition released in 2013.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I know, it’s all very confusing when talking about the early versions of D&amp;D but hopefully this has helped someone figure out what the folks in the OSR community are talking about.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--XFXaNMUg14/W22-EVXYtaI/AAAAAAAAQ3M/BZm0uwoblXA_cRpZ1YPA2Si9yyAWmBnkgCLcBGAs/s1600/20180810_112432.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1007" data-original-width="1600" height="401" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--XFXaNMUg14/W22-EVXYtaI/AAAAAAAAQ3M/BZm0uwoblXA_cRpZ1YPA2Si9yyAWmBnkgCLcBGAs/s640/20180810_112432.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Now we can start looking at some of the books in question. I don't own OSRIC or Labyrinth Lord so I can't really comment on them but from what I understand, OSRIC is most like AD&amp;D (1st edition for the lay folk) and Labyrinth Lord is considered a B/X clone. Let's start with the one I know fairly well. C&amp;C is modeled after 3rd edition but has an AD&amp;D feel to it. I haven't quite figured out why it feels this way but it does and I like it. I don't know if I ever mentioned this before but I cut my RPG teeth on AD&amp;D. My older brother Rob, DM'd for my friend Brian and myself around the age of 8 or 9. Several years ago I attended GaryCon with some friends and I was hooked on C&amp;C ever since. During that same convention I also played in a game of AD&amp;D run by Weird Dave. That was a great game but it reminded me of some of the shortcomings of AD&amp;D. Namely the armor class system. First of all, let me say that I don't like the descending armor class system. THAC0 never made much sense to me whatsoever. I was very excited to see 3rd edition removed it in favor of the ascending armor class. Thank you, Skip Williams, Monte Cook, and Jonathan Tweet.</span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Shortly after purchasing tons of Troll Lord Games supplements, I was running out of published modules to use and quite frankly, I was learning that published modules weren't always very well written or even very useful for me and my group. What was I to do? I started looking around and realized that all of the OD&amp;D, AD&amp;D, and S&amp;W stuff could easily be converted to C&amp;C. In some cases, I didn't even need to do any conversion at all. So, the next year at GaryCon I was looking around the dealer hall and I came across a booth that said Frog God Games. While perusing the S&amp;W products I talked to the sales man, who sold me on Rappan Athuk and boy did I buy into it. This is one hell of a mega dungeon let me tell you. Anyway, I'm digressing. Back to the conundrum at hand.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">All of this was several years ago and then I recently came across WWII: Operation Whitebox from Small Niche Games. You can read about that in my previous post. This game made me realize how simple it is to adapt this so called White Box game. So, I did some digging around and found the White Box Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game written by Charlie Mason which is based on the Swords &amp; Wizardry White Box. Say what? I knew all about S&amp;W but I never heard of a S&amp;W White Box. Well, Charlie did a damn good job with his interpretation. So much so that I went and bought a hardcover from Lulu. This really breaks down the game and I don't think I would want anything simpler than this in my library. I highly recommend you check out Mr. Mason's White Box game.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This brings up another interesting topic, how simple of a rule system is too simple? This will be a good topic for another post so I'll leave it at that.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">So now that I'm looking around at other OSR rule books, the question comes in. What makes them so different that I should get multiple books and play them all? I don't honestly think I can answer that question. Some people are trying to over simplify the games to the point where when I read the first 20 pages I'm like UGHH. It's wayyyy too simple for my tastes, I need more. Fortunately, lots of these books are free pdf downloads, so you can read them yourself and decide if you want to spend money on a printed copy.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Whilst I was perusing the OSR Google communities I also came across a post about someone finally getting the last signature needed in his DCC book. In the picture he posted were two hats alongside the book. I thought wow, those are cool. Now this isn't the first time I've seen those patches but I had no idea where anyone is getting them. I did a little digging around and finally found a blog post that talked about <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/116753840752673556533" target="_blank">Thaddeus Moore's</a> patches. Tenkar's Tavern did a great write up about it so I'm not going to re-write it. </span><a href="http://www.tenkarstavern.com/2018/07/osr-patches-swords-of-crom-now-available.html?m=1" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;" target="_blank">Check it out here</a><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Omgdw7_MwL4/W23FIOu9gHI/AAAAAAAAQ3s/f10OZK0jg785dcPMNGQsYGytCRt0EagQwCEwYBhgL/s1600/20180810_111309.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Omgdw7_MwL4/W23FIOu9gHI/AAAAAAAAQ3s/f10OZK0jg785dcPMNGQsYGytCRt0EagQwCEwYBhgL/s320/20180810_111309.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NkOQLjWc1FY/W23FIHuCRsI/AAAAAAAAQ3o/qA31wQNUiL0q9rWmMzIux2EtiFaj6v3bQCEwYBhgL/s1600/20180810_111544.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="934" data-original-width="1600" height="186" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NkOQLjWc1FY/W23FIHuCRsI/AAAAAAAAQ3o/qA31wQNUiL0q9rWmMzIux2EtiFaj6v3bQCEwYBhgL/s320/20180810_111544.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;">The person who posted that picture also got me thinking about DCC. I guess I never really thought about DCC as an OSR game. I've had the pdf for some time now and only looked at it for the artwork thus far. It makes perfect sense now though. The art is definitely reminiscent of the black and white line art style we all know and love. Crap, more OSR stuff to start thinking about.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;">Ooh yeah, I also found these bad boys over on Etsy. </span><a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/607022808/osr-dice-set-of-3-preorder-dungeons-and?ga_order=most_relevant&amp;ga_search_type=all&amp;ga_view_type=gallery&amp;ga_search_query=osr%20dice&amp;ref=sr_gallery-1-1&amp;organic_search_click=1" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;" target="_blank">Check it out here.</a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Rp1HAhkUW8U/W23Lmgy7CdI/AAAAAAAAQ34/KQpoGmyf2Ksdk757DGEEIoqBqwk-uOdhACLcBGAs/s1600/osr%2Bdice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="428" data-original-width="570" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Rp1HAhkUW8U/W23Lmgy7CdI/AAAAAAAAQ34/KQpoGmyf2Ksdk757DGEEIoqBqwk-uOdhACLcBGAs/s320/osr%2Bdice.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;">At this rate, I don't think this blog post is ever going to end so I'm gonna call it quits here. I think I've got at least two more posts on this subject coming because I didn't even come close to answering the original question I had and it is such a broad topic. Another question I have is what defines a game as OSR? I don't think this is an easy and straight forward question either. Damn, this post is FUBAR. Well, at least I'm sticking to the moniker of my blog title. These are absolutely random thoughts.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;">Be sure to head over to the Nerds-International Google + community and don't forget about NIV Con on September 15th and 16th. You don't need to be a member to sign up to run or play in games. So head on over to the <a href="https://nerdsinternationalvirtualcon.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">sign up page here.</a> I look forward to hearing some new voices or even seeing new faces during the online convention.</span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s320/Logo.png" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;;" target="_blank">Nerds-International Google+ community page</a></div>Matt Starkhttps://plus.google.com/109756489860852016703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514595937073664352.post-39564221341367401962018-06-03T11:15:00.000-05:002018-06-03T11:33:06.904-05:00WWII: Operation Whitebox<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o2UJp9uMuKE/WxPvWz3ivRI/AAAAAAAAO7U/niJOQ9mpjI4o29AHnvAEwff5Lcm5kSVAACLcBGAs/s1600/WWII%2BOWB%2BCover.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o2UJp9uMuKE/WxPvWz3ivRI/AAAAAAAAO7U/niJOQ9mpjI4o29AHnvAEwff5Lcm5kSVAACLcBGAs/s640/WWII%2BOWB%2BCover.png" width="425" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;courier new&quot; , &quot;courier&quot; , monospace;"><b>Recently I came across this fun OSR based World War II game. <a href="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/196284/OWB001-WWII-Operation-WhiteBox" target="_blank">Operation Whitebox</a> (OWB)is a 186 page RPG published by Small Niche Games and written by Peter C. Spahn. It utilizes rules from <a href="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/190631/White-Box--Fantastic-Medieval-Adventure-Game" target="_blank">WhiteBox</a> which makes for a wonderfully simple game and adds in some crunch to get the game to work for your Normandy invasion. That's right, you can recreate the Normandy invasion with this little gem or any other part of the great war. You could even create your own version of the war. Maybe the Nazis took over Great Britain or perhaps Russia joined the Axis powers.<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;courier new&quot; , &quot;courier&quot; , monospace;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;courier new&quot; , &quot;courier&quot; , monospace;"><b>In OWB, the player play the role of special operations forces in WWII. They may be formally trained allied military or members of the resistance of occupied Germany. They could even be covert agents working to undermine the German war effort. Which ever way you want to play it your characters are considered special forces operatives for the purpose of this book. This gives some added benefits to the player, namely increased Armor Class. Another added benefit is that you are the best of the best which means you can accomplish things most others couldn't. When in doubt as to whether a player can attempt a task, the GM should have the player roll a d20 to see if they fail on a 1 in 20 chance.&nbsp;</b></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;courier new&quot; , &quot;courier&quot; , monospace;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;courier new&quot; , &quot;courier&quot; , monospace;"><b>Speaking of Armor Class, this book provides two methods, Ascending and Descending. I prefer the Ascending Armor Class so that will be used here on out. As stated earlier special operatives recieve bonuses to armor class and after a brief conversation with Pete Spahn, it appears this is an often overlooked aspect. Page 36 tells us that the natural AC of a special forces operative starts at 12, otherwise it would be 10 for NPC's.</b></span></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><br /><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;courier new&quot; , &quot;courier&quot; , monospace;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><b>So far I've only read through the book and created 8&nbsp;<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ATQMtS43gyqbdgr42Gai9xdOeSu43MZ-" target="_blank">pregenerated characters</a>&nbsp;to use for a game I'm running in a couple of weeks, but right now I'm loving it. I've also created a <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1s6Mj02YCJCqn3OP66nT3E-6OvXP4qCYC" target="_blank">form fillable character</a> sheet from the one included in the book for anyone interested in that as well.</b></span></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><b><span style="font-family: &quot;courier new&quot; , &quot;courier&quot; , monospace;"><br /></span></b></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><b><span style="font-family: &quot;courier new&quot; , &quot;courier&quot; , monospace;">The simplicity of the game comes from the fact that players only need a d20 and a d6 to play the game. All weapon damage is some form of d6. For example a grenade does 2d6+2, a thrown knife does 1d6-2, and the standard M1 Garand does 1d6+1. There are a few other variations of weapon damage but for the most part it all comes down to trappings. The M1 Garand will do the same as a Lee Enfield which will do the same as a Mauser 98.</span></b></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><b><span style="font-family: &quot;courier new&quot; , &quot;courier&quot; , monospace;"><br /></span></b></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;courier new&quot; , &quot;courier&quot; , monospace;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><b>I should talk about range modifiers as well since this confused me a bit. Apparently this is also an often misunderstood issue. I'll be honest and say that I just skimmed this section and didn't take the time to fully understand ranges when I posed a question over at the <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/100846094177083736725" target="_blank">OWB Google+ community page</a>. So I look at it as a kind of stacking multiplier. Short range = the range listed on the weapon stat. Medium range = 2 times short range, Long range = 3 times Medium range, and Extreme range = 4 times Long range. Each of the increases in range modifies the to hit roll with 0, -2, -4, and -6 respectively.&nbsp;</b></span></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><b><span style="font-family: &quot;courier new&quot; , &quot;courier&quot; , monospace;"><br /></span></b></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AQUaPTF-AtY/WxQT08ik-lI/AAAAAAAAO7g/CD8Wv8I9ubgH-E1N07WAbZeKUUCcf1SmACLcBGAs/s1600/WWII%2BOWB%2Bsmall%2Bmap.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="610" height="424" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AQUaPTF-AtY/WxQT08ik-lI/AAAAAAAAO7g/CD8Wv8I9ubgH-E1N07WAbZeKUUCcf1SmACLcBGAs/s640/WWII%2BOWB%2Bsmall%2Bmap.png" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><b><span style="font-family: &quot;courier new&quot; , &quot;courier&quot; , monospace;"><br /></span></b></span><b style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;courier new&quot; , &quot;courier&quot; , monospace;">All other rolls are d20 based. Saving throws and to hit rolls are modified d20. The attribute modifiers are very simple as well, 3-6 = -1, 7-14 = 0, and 15-18 = +1. There is an alternate to the simplified modifiers if one chooses but I think simple is better. This game is also capped out at level 5 which means no real discernible power creep.</span></b></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><b><span style="font-family: &quot;courier new&quot; , &quot;courier&quot; , monospace;"><br /></span></b></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><b><span style="font-family: &quot;courier new&quot; , &quot;courier&quot; , monospace;">Character creation is simple, roll 3d6 six times and go right down the line and plug them into the attributes, then pick your class. Your character class gives you specific class abilities and tells you the rest of your character's stats. Now roll on a few tables to find out your characters life before the war and their current rank in the military.&nbsp;</span></b></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><b><span style="font-family: &quot;courier new&quot; , &quot;courier&quot; , monospace;"><br /></span></b></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><b><span style="font-family: &quot;courier new&quot; , &quot;courier&quot; , monospace;">As I said before, this game caps out at level 5 which means you can level up to increase Hit Points and improve modifiers but for the most part I would say this game is geared toward a one shot or even a mini campaign. On page 25 the author even tells us that this game "is designed for one-shot play so characters top our at 5th level, reflecting the brief nature of the actual war."</span></b></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><b><span style="font-family: &quot;courier new&quot; , &quot;courier&quot; , monospace;"><br /></span></b></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><b><span style="font-family: &quot;courier new&quot; , &quot;courier&quot; , monospace;">There are a few more rules that I'll only briefly mention but make the game so cool. Suppressive fire, Ambushes, Mass Combat, Vehicle Combat, Impact, Timed, and Static explosives. He also includes mini settings. These are basically weird spin-offs of the war. Nazi Superscience, Nazi Occult, and Galaxy War - Space Operations.&nbsp;</span></b></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><b><span style="font-family: &quot;courier new&quot; , &quot;courier&quot; , monospace;"><br /></span></b></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><b><span style="font-family: &quot;courier new&quot; , &quot;courier&quot; , monospace;">I'm really stoked to play this game and can't wait. Now I just need to set it up in Fantasy Grounds and figure out how to add some sound effects. I'll also probably run this game at the next Nerds-International Virtual Con (NIV Con) on September 15-16, 2018. If you haven't checked it out yet, I suggest you go on over to the <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" target="_blank">Nerds-International Google+ community</a> and chat with some of the folks there. Its a community of gamers with thick skin. We like to razz each other so if you get offended easily then you may want to think twice about it but there are also so many content creators there that you may just enjoy it anyway.&nbsp;</span></b></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><b><span style="font-family: &quot;courier new&quot; , &quot;courier&quot; , monospace;"><br /></span></b></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><b><span style="font-family: &quot;courier new&quot; , &quot;courier&quot; , monospace;">I'd like to take a moment to thank the guys from <a href="https://findingthenarrativepodcast.podbean.com/" target="_blank">Finding the Narrative</a> and <a href="https://imaginaryramblings.podbean.com/" target="_blank">Imaginary Ramblings</a> for giving me and my blog a shout out on their podcasts. Thanks guys!</span></b></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><b><span style="font-family: &quot;courier new&quot; , &quot;courier&quot; , monospace;"><br /></span></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s320/Logo.png" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: medium;" target="_blank">Nerds-International Google+ community page</a></span></div><br />Matt Starkhttps://plus.google.com/109756489860852016703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514595937073664352.post-13315843332022539382018-05-30T20:32:00.000-05:002018-05-30T20:38:23.749-05:00Gettin' Crafty With RPG Maps<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif;">Some time ago I was asked how I made my maps and I told them in a short one paragraph social media post. Today I’d like to expand on that a bit more and add in some photographs of the process I use. It’s really simple when you think about it. Print the pictures, glue them down, and cut them out. The most important thing to keep in mind is the paper quality is what makes the maps look great. I used to be in the camp that paper is paper. There’s no need to waste money on expensive paper. But then I was never happy with the quality of the images. It took me well over a year to finally understand that the finish and quality of paper does matter. For this project I’m using Office Depot’s premium brochure &amp; flyer paper.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jfld5e3kIkw/Ww9LNLRBXZI/AAAAAAAAO30/uA-svmxC2o8ht10oy6ACGf2Vmj_fN1TKwCEwYBhgL/s1600/20180522_145751.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jfld5e3kIkw/Ww9LNLRBXZI/AAAAAAAAO30/uA-svmxC2o8ht10oy6ACGf2Vmj_fN1TKwCEwYBhgL/s320/20180522_145751.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif;">The first step is to print out the tiles and I’m making a 24”x36” map out of 6” tiles which will give me a total of 24 tiles. Then loosely cut out the images with a pair of scissors leaving around 1/8</span><!--[if gte msEquation 12]><m:oMath><m:f><m:fPr><m:type m:val="lin"/><span style='font-family:"Cambria Math",serif;mso-ascii-font-family: "Cambria Math";mso-hansi-font-family:"Cambria Math"'><m:ctrlPr></m:ctrlPr></span></m:fPr><m:num><i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-family:"Cambria Math",serif'><m:r>1</m:r></span></i></m:num><m:den><i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-family:"Cambria Math",serif'><m:r>8</m:r></span></i></m:den></m:f></m:oMath><![endif]--><!--[if !msEquation]--><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; position: relative; top: 3.0pt;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" o:spt="75" o:preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f"> <v:stroke joinstyle="miter"/> <v:formulas> <v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"/> <v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"/> <v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"/> <v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"/> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"/> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"/> <v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"/> <v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"/> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"/> <v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"/> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"/> <v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"/> </v:formulas> <v:path o:extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" o:connecttype="rect"/> <o:lock v:ext="edit" aspectratio="t"/></v:shapetype><v:shape id="_x0000_i1025" type="#_x0000_t75" style='width:18pt; height:14.25pt'> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:/Users/Matt/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.png" o:title="" chromakey="white"/></v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif;">” to 1/4</span><!--[if gte msEquation 12]><m:oMath><m:f><m:fPr><m:type m:val="lin"/><span style='font-family:"Cambria Math",serif;mso-ascii-font-family: "Cambria Math";mso-hansi-font-family:"Cambria Math"'><m:ctrlPr></m:ctrlPr></span></m:fPr><m:num><i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-family:"Cambria Math",serif'><m:r>1</m:r></span></i></m:num><m:den><i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-family:"Cambria Math",serif'><m:r>4</m:r></span></i></m:den></m:f></m:oMath><![endif]--><!--[if !msEquation]--><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; position: relative; top: 3.0pt;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="_x0000_i1025" type="#_x0000_t75" style='width:18pt;height:14.25pt'> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:/Users/Matt/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image003.png" o:title="" chromakey="white"/></v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif;">” of white around the edge of the picture. Finding the tiles can be a challenge if you're as picky about as I am. DriveThruRPG is a great source. Conversely, if you can't find tiles then you could also take your own map and cut it up in Photoshop.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iJpoJ3g-Wck/Ww9LfyCCBaI/AAAAAAAAO38/EdRHyCAddFwgLL4whNXzMQIUZLs88OuowCLcBGAs/s1600/20180526_214413.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1394" data-original-width="1518" height="293" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iJpoJ3g-Wck/Ww9LfyCCBaI/AAAAAAAAO38/EdRHyCAddFwgLL4whNXzMQIUZLs88OuowCLcBGAs/s320/20180526_214413.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif;">With all 24 images cut out we can move on to cutting up the 3/16</span><!--[if gte msEquation 12]><m:oMath><m:f><m:fPr><m:type m:val="lin"/><span style='font-family:"Cambria Math",serif;mso-ascii-font-family: "Cambria Math";mso-hansi-font-family:"Cambria Math"'><m:ctrlPr></m:ctrlPr></span></m:fPr><m:num><i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-family:"Cambria Math",serif'><m:r>3</m:r></span></i></m:num><m:den><i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-family:"Cambria Math",serif'><m:r>16</m:r></span></i></m:den></m:f></m:oMath><![endif]--><!--[if !msEquation]--><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; position: relative; top: 3.0pt;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" o:spt="75" o:preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f"> <v:stroke joinstyle="miter"/> <v:formulas> <v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"/> <v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"/> <v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"/> <v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"/> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"/> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"/> <v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"/> <v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"/> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"/> <v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"/> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"/> <v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"/> </v:formulas> <v:path o:extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" o:connecttype="rect"/> <o:lock v:ext="edit" aspectratio="t"/></v:shapetype><v:shape id="_x0000_i1025" type="#_x0000_t75" style='width:24pt; height:14.25pt'> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:/Users/Matt/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.png" o:title="" chromakey="white"/></v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">” foam board. You did buy foam board right? No, well then go to Walmart and buy some. This project will require two sheets. I prefer the black foam board because the texture of the paper feels rougher to my hand which means the glue will have more tooth to hold onto. Don’t fret if you can’t find the black one. Just go ahead and get the white, it will work just as well.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uUIoKUsx_xg/Ww9Lmp19TgI/AAAAAAAAO4A/UgFwjbiBkII_klKPIrfxViAP17uLQ7kQwCLcBGAs/s1600/20180522_142808.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uUIoKUsx_xg/Ww9Lmp19TgI/AAAAAAAAO4A/UgFwjbiBkII_klKPIrfxViAP17uLQ7kQwCLcBGAs/s320/20180522_142808.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">While you’re there go ahead and buy some glue. I prefer the Scotch brand glue as it allows me enough time to readjust any misalignment and dries fairly quickly. I’ve used glue sticks in the past and would continue using them if I couldn’t find the Scotch glue anymore. One of these Scotch glue applicators let me adhere 37 of the 6” tiles.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kNAOi2B9ftE/Ww9LzkYeimI/AAAAAAAAO4M/FV8VenEXsK4O4ZnxSn23AVxoAI5lv7dCQCLcBGAs/s1600/20180522_143515.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kNAOi2B9ftE/Ww9LzkYeimI/AAAAAAAAO4M/FV8VenEXsK4O4ZnxSn23AVxoAI5lv7dCQCLcBGAs/s320/20180522_143515.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif;">Now that we have our craft supplies we can start cutting stuff. I like to start by cutting the foam board into smaller more manageable sizes. Lets cut them into 7” strips. Start by laying out the board so that the long side is going left to right. Then measure from the end 7” and make a mark at the top, middle, and bottom of the board.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v_NYqICZVNY/Ww9MDTaSoqI/AAAAAAAAO4Y/GU9bM5SvrrkzWnXZykXy2IVyc79YvqTlQCLcBGAs/s1600/20180526_140100.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v_NYqICZVNY/Ww9MDTaSoqI/AAAAAAAAO4Y/GU9bM5SvrrkzWnXZykXy2IVyc79YvqTlQCLcBGAs/s320/20180526_140100.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif;">Now line up a ruler and cut along the marks you just made. I didn’t have a ruler long enough to cut it in one pass so I started my cut in the middle and cut the side closest to me.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KfCAXrG6_kY/Ww9MDRAbfMI/AAAAAAAAO40/n0EpZ-XMamw2yumQhW23nlDCDAh43IxZQCEwYBhgL/s1600/20180526_140231.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KfCAXrG6_kY/Ww9MDRAbfMI/AAAAAAAAO40/n0EpZ-XMamw2yumQhW23nlDCDAh43IxZQCEwYBhgL/s320/20180526_140231.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif;">After a few passes, the bottom section can be lifted enough so that the ruler can butt up to it and be slid up to the top. The cut edge acts as a guide for the ruler. Now finish the cut.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VM32k2RCJqc/Ww9MDS3as8I/AAAAAAAAO44/VTNj3CXmffIhY3td92QG18CQrc1nwsS7gCEwYBhgL/s1600/20180526_140316.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VM32k2RCJqc/Ww9MDS3as8I/AAAAAAAAO44/VTNj3CXmffIhY3td92QG18CQrc1nwsS7gCEwYBhgL/s320/20180526_140316.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif;">Continue cutting the rest of both foam boards the same way and you’ll end up with 8 sections of 7” x 20” and a couple of scrap pieces.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-grN75RNJmjA/Ww9MFSomPCI/AAAAAAAAO48/sp1hLyFjtOINaqNcM3cnzKW5Gwl7prY_wCEwYBhgL/s1600/20180526_155459.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1157" data-original-width="1600" height="231" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-grN75RNJmjA/Ww9MFSomPCI/AAAAAAAAO48/sp1hLyFjtOINaqNcM3cnzKW5Gwl7prY_wCEwYBhgL/s320/20180526_155459.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif;">The next step is to turn the foam board so that the 20” length is facing left to right and cut them into 6 ½” sections. You’ll end up with two 6 ½” x 7” pieces and one 7” x 7” piece.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3lwigr-yB64/Ww9MFaxD__I/AAAAAAAAO44/cSFrUmWxgnkeO8l0M-1RGbvoIoko1BbUgCEwYBhgL/s1600/20180526_155600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1158" data-original-width="1600" height="231" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3lwigr-yB64/Ww9MFaxD__I/AAAAAAAAO44/cSFrUmWxgnkeO8l0M-1RGbvoIoko1BbUgCEwYBhgL/s320/20180526_155600.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif;">Finish cutting the remaining 7 sections of 7” x 20” in the same manner and you’ll end up with 24 rough tiles.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7IcEHjjp8_o/Ww9MEa5jKYI/AAAAAAAAO4w/WUB0zDETkeUR2EqcB9e7iCjxpX_-eaCpQCEwYBhgL/s1600/20180526_155259.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7IcEHjjp8_o/Ww9MEa5jKYI/AAAAAAAAO4w/WUB0zDETkeUR2EqcB9e7iCjxpX_-eaCpQCEwYBhgL/s320/20180526_155259.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif;">Let’s start gluing. Because I’m right handed, I started at the lower right corner, went around the perimeter to the lower left corner then made a bunch of squiggly’s and end up back at the lower right corner. In order to keep glue off of my hands I made the squiggly’s far enough apart to allow me to place a finger to hold down the paper. The paper will curl up afterward so you can reach under it to pick it up.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F4hwt8uNmFc/Ww9My0XxlvI/AAAAAAAAO5Q/W5DmwbC8lgkbh97Auzoj2xqgppZv1nWGgCEwYBhgL/s1600/20180529_124026.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F4hwt8uNmFc/Ww9My0XxlvI/AAAAAAAAO5Q/W5DmwbC8lgkbh97Auzoj2xqgppZv1nWGgCEwYBhgL/s320/20180529_124026.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JG-z9-bgBf4/Ww9MypFUhMI/AAAAAAAAO5E/dUwNcjZOvpwKiRZNunXCKTkBPzL0f-w_gCEwYBhgL/s1600/20180529_121712.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JG-z9-bgBf4/Ww9MypFUhMI/AAAAAAAAO5E/dUwNcjZOvpwKiRZNunXCKTkBPzL0f-w_gCEwYBhgL/s320/20180529_121712.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif;">Now place it on a piece of foam board. I use the bottom of my fist to hopefully spread the glue by starting in the middle and sliding out toward the edges.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RoaMm1t9nFA/Ww9MzXjTRhI/AAAAAAAAO5s/JC_-qL2ZyeQXzYwu9OADuFPEDJjUjeWlwCEwYBhgL/s1600/20180529_131408.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RoaMm1t9nFA/Ww9MzXjTRhI/AAAAAAAAO5s/JC_-qL2ZyeQXzYwu9OADuFPEDJjUjeWlwCEwYBhgL/s320/20180529_131408.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s9V_SJHTA9I/Ww9M0dzD7LI/AAAAAAAAO5Y/W34kUmvAhnkgtsaiwI5aiqBs4P29Nl0bACEwYBhgL/s1600/20180529_131414.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s9V_SJHTA9I/Ww9M0dzD7LI/AAAAAAAAO5Y/W34kUmvAhnkgtsaiwI5aiqBs4P29Nl0bACEwYBhgL/s320/20180529_131414.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif;">Then I flip it over and place a heavy object on top until the glue dries. Here you can see me using a Variac and a fire extinguisher to weigh down the foam board.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8H15xA4GqCc/Ww9My43TnEI/AAAAAAAAO50/sUBQcHaaZJE4H9JyIthalT66wEMVYva2QCEwYBhgL/s1600/20180529_122644.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8H15xA4GqCc/Ww9My43TnEI/AAAAAAAAO50/sUBQcHaaZJE4H9JyIthalT66wEMVYva2QCEwYBhgL/s320/20180529_122644.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g0W_oRjLl4s/Ww9My1U4rHI/AAAAAAAAO54/MKskFF4OgRMIVk25r0oVjw2_TaS5J_FrQCEwYBhgL/s1600/20180529_123643.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g0W_oRjLl4s/Ww9My1U4rHI/AAAAAAAAO54/MKskFF4OgRMIVk25r0oVjw2_TaS5J_FrQCEwYBhgL/s320/20180529_123643.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif;">After 30 minutes or so I remove the weights and finish cutting the tiles. Flip the tiles over and line up a ruler along the edge. Cut the tile while angling the knife so that an undercut is made. Make several passes and let the knife do the work. If it’s too hard to cut or you find yourself pressing hard then the knife is dull and you need a new blade. The first cut should be made slowly so that you get a clean cut of the picture. Then make more passes until the scrap piece falls away.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QsaQt5wro7s/Ww9M1r2ohPI/AAAAAAAAO5w/ufpT5khfA10Rh3nmNhSjsfp10_Su0a2VwCEwYBhgL/s1600/20180530_113234.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QsaQt5wro7s/Ww9M1r2ohPI/AAAAAAAAO5w/ufpT5khfA10Rh3nmNhSjsfp10_Su0a2VwCEwYBhgL/s320/20180530_113234.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fFBYkdAMFqM/Ww9M1rJ--iI/AAAAAAAAO50/DwWv2Tx2kHc0CHXu_y5nLh5RGzK-FM1-QCEwYBhgL/s1600/20180530_112931.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fFBYkdAMFqM/Ww9M1rJ--iI/AAAAAAAAO50/DwWv2Tx2kHc0CHXu_y5nLh5RGzK-FM1-QCEwYBhgL/s320/20180530_112931.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif;">When everything is all done you’ll have 24 tiles and a box full of scrap foam board. Easy Peasy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3Uo2uJnTn5U/Ww9M2_fcTGI/AAAAAAAAO58/kGIUM_TEhisZYxytonicqFw4-Ds8kxoQwCEwYBhgL/s1600/20180530_123341.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3Uo2uJnTn5U/Ww9M2_fcTGI/AAAAAAAAO58/kGIUM_TEhisZYxytonicqFw4-Ds8kxoQwCEwYBhgL/s320/20180530_123341.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JSbJWbCUR4k/Ww9M2ttPIxI/AAAAAAAAO54/nZIXbo2JiyQmcQAuhIPw1SO31HcXwYfHACEwYBhgL/s1600/20180530_123316.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1526" data-original-width="1600" height="305" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JSbJWbCUR4k/Ww9M2ttPIxI/AAAAAAAAO54/nZIXbo2JiyQmcQAuhIPw1SO31HcXwYfHACEwYBhgL/s320/20180530_123316.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif;">I should also mention that it will not turn out perfect no matter what you do. There will be blemishes and it doesn’t matter. It will still look great. You may see some slight bubbles in the tiles or some of your cuts might wander a little. The tiles will not be perfect 6” squares. Once you get past your OCD you can enjoy the fruits of your labor. Have fun with the project and don’t get bogged down by small details.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s320/Logo.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;;" target="_blank">Nerds-International Google+ community page</a></div><o:p></o:p><br /><o:p></o:p><br />Matt Starkhttps://plus.google.com/109756489860852016703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514595937073664352.post-30429551084718951422018-04-24T10:05:00.000-05:002018-04-24T10:05:06.014-05:00The Savage Worlds Killer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MVIkJR2kHAM/Wt9F1JbS0yI/AAAAAAAANt4/jnE1_yiNZREdXWkCjsnfiiOQhGwNGjkawCLcBGAs/s1600/59131.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MVIkJR2kHAM/Wt9F1JbS0yI/AAAAAAAANt4/jnE1_yiNZREdXWkCjsnfiiOQhGwNGjkawCLcBGAs/s640/59131.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;">This morning on my drive into work I was listening to&nbsp;</span><a href="https://findingthenarrativepodcast.podbean.com/" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;" target="_blank">Finding the Narrative</a><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;">, a Genesys podcast hosted by&nbsp;</span><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/112196835704783831986" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;" target="_blank">Tony Fanning</a><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;">&nbsp;and&nbsp;</span><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/105267651501016773541" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;" target="_blank">Chris Holmes</a><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;">. They started talking about combat and it made me realize that I like Savage Worlds more than any other system on the market to date. I do like Fantasy Flight Games' game and it does some stuff really well but Savage Worlds does it better.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span><div style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Then I thought, what is it about&nbsp;<a href="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/228813/Genesys-Core-Rulebook" target="_blank">Genesys</a>&nbsp;that I like? Well for starters, its magic system is top notch. I think it performs better than most other systems. The magic user can adjust how powerful her spell is on a case by case basis. It allows free form sculpting of the spells on the fly and is only limited by the spellcasters imagination.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/92743/Savage-Worlds-Deluxe" target="_blank">Savage Worlds</a>&nbsp;can't quite do this but it does come closer than anyone else with trappings.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Genesys' use of talents makes more sense to me than just increasing your skills. The use of talents allows players to have a bit more narrative structure to their character while also including boons to skill rolls, strain, or soak value. The tree by which talents are selected is designed to force the players to make difficult choices and also makes sure the character is balanced (i.e. not overpowered). Savage Worlds is very similar to this in the fact that some Edges have prerequisites. Players cannot simply take Improved Counterattack without first taking Counterattack. Then Counterattack in itself has requirements of its own.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">One last thing that I really like about Genesys is its use of Motivation. Motivation is a tool for both the player and the GM. It helps the player to better define the character by describing when and how they learned the skills that they have. It also provides the GM with ideas to incorporate the character's background into the story. I don't know how many times I've asked players to write a short background on their character and only get a few people to actually do it. Savage Worlds sort of accomplishes the same thing through the use of Hindrances but too many players only see these as a way to generate bennies. It is meant to help mold the character to your concept. Flawed characters are always more fun than perfect ones.</span><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZENsG28BvZk/Wt8ZdoJI63I/AAAAAAAANtc/H64X1fQDYh09wfRe_DMiJnu3ODI8g4NggCLcBGAs/s1600/SWEX%2Bvs%2BFFG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="691" data-original-width="996" height="277" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZENsG28BvZk/Wt8ZdoJI63I/AAAAAAAANtc/H64X1fQDYh09wfRe_DMiJnu3ODI8g4NggCLcBGAs/s400/SWEX%2Bvs%2BFFG.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Now onto some of the things I dislike about Genesys. Combat actions, this irks the hell out of me and the deciding factor of why Savage Worlds is better. Much like D&amp;D, in Genesys you only get one combat action. I remember the first time I saw Savage Worlds played by others. I saw someone perform multiple attack actions and move around. This was an epiphany to me. This is what I was missing from D&amp;D. I was growing tired of the no you can't do that because you only have one action mentality. I wanted to be able to jump onto a table, kick an Orc in the face, swing from the chandelier, and tackle another Orc. Not gonna happen in Genesys or D&amp;D.&nbsp;</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let's talk about Cool and Vigilance used for initiative. This is stupid. Why are there two different skills for performing the same task? I understand they're trying to differentiate between someone being surprised and someone who is ready to engage in combat. It does speed up the surprise check process but it doesn’t make sense. Why do I need to invest points into two different skills that only has one purpose, combat initiative? Just have the players roll Perception for surprise, if they fail they act the next round. Then have all successful players roll initiative. The players who are surprised take the last available initiative slots.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Abstract initiative turn order is not something I enjoy all that much either. I don't see a whole lot wrong with it but I see it as encouraging meta gaming. I'm not saying meta gaming is bad. I'd just like to see a little less of it during combat. Savage Worlds and Castles &amp; Crusades gets this part right. Initiative is determined every round simulating the fact that combat is more fluid and you don't act at the same time every turn.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Before I forget, I really don't like how characteristics in Genesys are pretty much stuck after character creation. Or at least they should allow for a more accessible way to increase them after creation. Currently the only way to increase them is after picking up a tier 5 talent and that is pretty dang tough to accomplish. A tier 5 talent will cost 175 experience points minimum. In game terms that means you could increase one characteristic by 1 every 9 sessions assuming you don't spend it on skills.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Savage World is not perfect by any means either but it handles everything I've wanted in a game fairly well. Just to name a few things I'm not keen on are the different uses of Investigation and Streetwise to accomplish the same thing. They both perform the same function but are narratively defined differently. I've also heard that the new version will breakout Performance from Persuasion which again are serving the same function with different narrative descriptions. They will also combine Climbing, Swimming, and Throwing into a new Athletics skill. They really need to keep Throwing separate from Athletics. Throwing is a combat skill that needs to be on its own.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Basically what I'm getting at is that no game system is perfect and Genesys is not, nor will ever be a Savage Worlds Killer. I'm looking at you Jamie. Anybody who's familiar with the Nerds-International Google Plus community will know that SWK is just a term we use to joke around with about one system being better than the other but we all know that Savage Worlds just does some things better than others. It should go without saying that we put ICRPG into the same category of ribbing each other.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gLKO_Ls2fLk/Wt9HBkNSEtI/AAAAAAAANuE/b_p64Su6jeQOzCAV6iiYRXPlzQMQ_mNcQCLcBGAs/s1600/212262.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1176" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gLKO_Ls2fLk/Wt9HBkNSEtI/AAAAAAAANuE/b_p64Su6jeQOzCAV6iiYRXPlzQMQ_mNcQCLcBGAs/s320/212262.jpg" width="244" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Even though I'm not a huge fan of&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/212262/INDEX-CARD-RPG-Core-2E" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;" target="_blank">ICRPG</a><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">, I cannot deny the fact that it has changed how lots of people play table top RPG's in general. It has made a huge impact on the game industry as we know it. At least once a week I'll see someone on social media talk about how they don't play it but it has opened their eyes or showed them a new way to look at something. For that, I say thank you&nbsp;</span><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/+DrunkensDragonsPlayDDLikeaBadass" style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;" target="_blank">Hankerin Ferinale</a><span style="font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s320/Logo.png" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;;" target="_blank">Nerds-International Google+ community page</a></div>Matt Starkhttps://plus.google.com/109756489860852016703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514595937073664352.post-4972772303100502602018-04-10T09:59:00.000-05:002018-04-10T09:59:48.850-05:00Players Derailing Your Game?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T8XtNi6qluU/WszQIz3ZEBI/AAAAAAAANGU/lo_Ar_CNFDAZ1pejGDTFiFg-j7EV0WlMgCLcBGAs/s1600/indiana-jones-invisible-bridge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="490" data-original-width="950" height="330" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T8XtNi6qluU/WszQIz3ZEBI/AAAAAAAANGU/lo_Ar_CNFDAZ1pejGDTFiFg-j7EV0WlMgCLcBGAs/s640/indiana-jones-invisible-bridge.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Almost a week ago during my Tuesday night game at the FLGS, I randomly decided my character was afraid of heights. Of course, this was decided just as we entered a room with a giant gaping hole in the floor. There was a rickety board spanning across this void and along the walls were enough of a ledge to try to traverse around the hole. One side looked as if it was damaged and had black soot staining it so one of our party attempted to go along the side that appeared relatively undamaged.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">As luck would have it, the section he was crossing gave way whilst near the middle of the pitfall. While the entire wall started to collapse inward, he successfully managed to leap off the debris and miraculously land on the single board in the middle of the room. While all of this was happening, my mage continued to bite his nails as he observed the rest of the party cross the void. When it came to me to cross the board, I gained enough courage to step out onto the board and suddenly froze up. Terrified with fear Zoltar wouldn't budge one step further. His friend came back to carry him across but was immediately stricken by a scrawny mage who was freaking out.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The party had to regroup and come up with a new plan. Our party is blessed with two individuals capable of illusory magic and they came up with the idea of projecting an image of a 5 foot wide platform for which Zoltar could cross without fear. They would leap frog so to speak. One would project a 5 by 5 image then the other would follow up in the same manner. All the while, there is a black line on the floor for the mage to follow.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I justified Zoltar crossing the expanse because he believed the magic to be real and a 5 foot wide path would have been wide enough so that if he fell, he wouldn't have any fear of falling in to the pit. This scenario took about 15 to 20 minutes to play out but this morning on my drive into work I couldn't help but wonder what the DM was thinking at that moment and I started to wonder if I would have handled it any differently. The DM was my friend Stuart Helm and I think he handled it the same way I would have.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I knew he was antsy to get the game moving along when the players initially entered the room because we were taking too long by talking about how to get to the other side or if we even needed to, or wanted to for that matter. We had the option of going back outside the building and coming back in through another entrance. During this conversation is when I noticed Stuart trying to hurry us along and I came up with the fear of heights. I'm sure some of you would say that's just a dick move but I was curious how everyone at the table would handle this situation.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I have to say I was pleasantly surprised because the other players went right along with entertaining my characters flaws and Stuart took a step back to let this play out. I think some less experienced DM's would have tried to say some BS like its DM fiat and we're moving on. I think I would have done the same thing as Stuart and I probably would have forced the other players to figure it out if they didn't want to go along with the fear of heights dilemma.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I'd love to hear your thoughts on this as well. What would you have done in this situation? At the time I almost felt as if I was derailing Stuart's game progression but now I feel more like it was an interesting and fun problem that you don't see come up in games very often, especially D&amp;D. Usually we're focused on the heroic and extraordinary acts we can accomplish in a game of fantasy. Why don't we see more irrational human fears in our games?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Stuart, if you're reading this, what do you think or what were you thinking when this happened?<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s320/Logo.png" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;;" target="_blank">Nerds-International Google+ community page</a></div>Matt Starkhttps://plus.google.com/109756489860852016703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514595937073664352.post-2740740063018752932018-03-03T14:18:00.000-06:002018-03-03T14:18:00.283-06:00The Esoterrorists Review: My poor attempt to recruit new assets<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6ZJk-250mag/WprMPsq_zHI/AAAAAAAALug/-BnoVBJhN0Eo1JtE9xbLyFXMkkMGS-uZwCLcBGAs/s1600/Esoterrorists_2nd_edition_high_res_logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="556" data-original-width="1600" height="220" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6ZJk-250mag/WprMPsq_zHI/AAAAAAAALug/-BnoVBJhN0Eo1JtE9xbLyFXMkkMGS-uZwCLcBGAs/s640/Esoterrorists_2nd_edition_high_res_logo.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The last two Fridays in a row I tried to get an online game together to play <a href="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/123154/The-Esoterrorists-2nd-Edition" target="_blank">The Esoterrorists</a> to no avail. My friend Eric Lamoureux suggested I write a review because maybe people don't quite know what it is all about. I'll explain more about it later but in a nutshell it's about secret agents reacting to threats posed by occult terrorists throughout the globe. I almost liken it to modern Cthulhu type cultists trying to bring these ancient old ones through the thin veil into our world in order to harness the power for themselves. This game uses the GUMSHOE system and I'm also thinking a lot of folks out there don't know much about it. Sure, you may have heard about it before but you're not familiar with the mechanics. I'll also give a brief overview on some of those as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">First of all, what is this secret organization and what role do the players play in this game? I'm glad you asked. You are elite paranormal investigators working as part of a secret organization known as Ordo Veritatis (Order of Truth). This organization operates in a cell structure on a worldwide basis. Sometimes you are sent out to recruit new assets for the order, occasionally you might be tasked to search and rescue a missing member of the order, but usually you are thwarting the Esoterrorists attempts to weaken the membrane that separates our world from the outer dark. While not operating in the field for the order, you go about your normal daily lives doing your normal mundane jobs. It's your job to protect the innocent, unknowing public from ever hearing about the wickedly evil creatures threatening the world. In fact, that's a part of every mission called the veil out.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">As a field agent in Ordo Veritatis, you are somewhat familiar with your teammates. I say somewhat because you never truly know someone in your line of work. You may even recall who recruited and trained you but for the most part you are unfamiliar with who is above you in the chain of command. Mr. Verity is your mission briefer. Sometimes it is a man and other times it’s a woman. The only thing certain is that it's never the same person. You are familiar however with the immediate structure of the organization above you. Field agents who get compromised can't have too much information after all. Your briefer is usually a senior staffer. The staffers are the ones who do the pre-mission research. It's their job to find the jobs. Once a report is deemed viable, the senior staffer puts together the briefing and recalls the most suitable team. You might be in the middle of interrogating a drug addict when the text message comes in or perhaps you're boiling the burned skin off a human skull in order to reconstruct the face for facial recognition software when the message comes in. Again, the only thing certain is you immediately drop what you’re doing to meet at the provided rendezvous point.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Being a secret agent isn't all it’s cracked up to be. You are of course one of the good guys therefore you do have a certain ethical requirement to adhere to. You are to protect your teammates and human life in general. Protecting the values and morals of civil society and the order are inherent to the job. Things you are prohibited from include assassination human enemies, use excessive force, torture, cause public distress, and of course treason. One caveat is that Outer Dark Entities (ODE's) who possess a human form are exempt from the ethical code. Conversely, in rare cases you can also contact Mr. Verity to apply for a Warrant of Exigency (permission to violate the ethical code). These are usually denied though. Ok, I think you get the jist of the order. Let's move on to the Esoterrorists now.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Simply stated, the Esoterrorists are an international conspiracy organization with a structure far different than your own. They are power bankers bent on obtaining even more power or they could be your backwoods cannibals causing fear and unrest in the world. This public fear and confusion is what thins the membrane which separates our world from the outer dark. When the membrane thins enough, these terrorists poke holes into it and bring forth an entity. This is their attempt to harness the magical power that is inherent to the entities. As of yet, none have succeeded in grasping this power but they still try. They could have come across an old misplaced photograph of a creature and the image calls to them. As they gaze upon the artifact it starts to swirl around and become all too real to them. The image comes alive and takes over their mind, urging them to thin the membrane enough to come through while promising magical powers to the unsuspecting victim. Or something like that.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">They may not be behind mass murders like the school shootings rampant in the news today but they are perpetuating the despair by keeping it in the news and in the faces of the public. This type of fear and confusion is what drives the Esoterrorists movement. This movement dates back to the Victorian era where rituals and evocations were rampantly practiced. Back then it was mostly nothing more than parlor tricks but today it is very real and these terrorists are doing everything they can to "enlighten" the public. Their power feeds off of the fear. Places where general public fear and unrest is high in the world is where the Esoterrorists will be. Fortunately for us this is fairly easy to spot via news feeds and intercepted satellite communications.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">So what is this GUMSHOE system? Great question!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">GUMSHOE is the system that was designed to solve the problem of what happens when you fail your notice roll. The game stalls because you didn't get that all revealing important clue. With GUMSHOE you always get the clues necessary to advance the story. This system is more narrative based with simple combat options. Some people say the combat is too simple and that's why they don't like it. Well then, I say to you, have you read <a href="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/62342/The-Esoterror-Fact-Book?term=the+esoterror+factbook&amp;test_epoch=0" target="_blank">The Esoterror Factbook</a>? This gives you a crunchier set of combat rules for those of you who want the tactical aspect of a game to come alive. Ah, but I'm getting off topic now. Let's get back to the basic rules of GUMSHOE shall we. Oh, I should also mention that I'll be looking at the rules for specifically The Esoterrorists as other GUMSHOE games may change the rules slightly.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let's take a look at&nbsp;<a href="http://site.pelgranepress.com/gumshoe/esoterrorists/files/charactersheeteso.pdf" target="_blank">The Esoterrorists character sheet</a>&nbsp;first. It's a fairly simple sheet with character name, off-duty occupation, weapons, and abilities. Wait, no hit points or armor class, what the heck? Yes and no. You see, hit points in this game is called Health and is covered under abilities. Armor is used to reduce damage taken not to avoid getting hit. Certain types of armor will reduce damage from gunshot wounds such as a Kevlar vest.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">There are two types of abilities, General and Investigative. Depending on how many players there are you will have anywhere from 20-32 points to spend on Investigative abilities. Regardless of group size you will have 60 points to spend on General abilities. Next to each ability is a column for Rating and Pool. Rating is your investigators skill level and Pool is how many points are available to spend on using that ability. If you have at least one point in an ability you are considered an expert in that. At the beginning of each mission your Rating and Pool should be equal. Throughout the game your Pool will decrease but not your Rating. These abilities are split up because Investigative abilities will refresh at a different rate than General abilities. During the course of a mission that may take 3 game sessions, your Investigative abilities might not refresh but some of your General abilities will.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The two most important abilities are Health and Stability. Your Health ability tracks how well your character is doing physically and Stability tracks how well you character is doing mentally. Both of these abilities can be reduced below 0 all the way to -12. Once you go below 0 there are consequences. For Health you need to make a consciousness roll when you reach -0 to -5, and again at -6 to -11. Each of these tiers offers an additional consequence to just simply staying awake. At -0 to -5 you are&nbsp;<b>Hurt</b>, you cannot spend points on Investigative abilities and difficulty numbers increase by 1. At -6 to -11 you are&nbsp;<b>Seriously Wounded</b>, you are no longer able to fight and will bleed out unless someone performs a successful Medic check to stabilize your wounds. At -12 you’re dead, make a new character. Stability has these same tiers labeled&nbsp;<b>Shaken&nbsp;</b>0 to -5 (difficulty numbers increase by 1), and you acquire a mental illness at -6 to -11. When you reach -12 you are incurably insane. You can commit one last crazy act or choose to be a drooling sack of flesh for the rest of the characters life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">As I said earlier, all important clues are free and will be given to you but there is also a chance to obtain more clues. These additional clues are not pertinent to move the story forward but they allow the players to shine for a moment. The additional clues can be obtained by spending points from your investigative ability pools. The players should narrate what the character is doing, what ability they are using, and how many points they will spend to get the extra clues. It's not uncommon for new players to have difficulty with this aspect of the game and the GM should then tell the players "for this many points in this ability you may be able to get some insight on the matter."&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Alright, let's move on to combat. The rules for combat are simple. Determine initiative by who has the highest rating in Scuffling or Shooting depending on what they want to do during combat. This is group based. If any one of the PC's has the highest rating then all of the PC's act before the bad guys and vice versa. This doesn't change from round to round once its established. The book recommends to just go around the table from left to right when it's the players turn. During the GM's turn he is free to determine which NPC acts at that time and in any order. I think I would take the PC's turn sequence a step further. Let them decide who goes on their turn. That always makes for a more collaborative and fun experience on their part. I also find it engages the players more knowing they can change who goes when.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In order to hit an opponent, we need to talk about Hit Threshold. All PC's start with a Hit Threshold of 3 but if your Athletics ability is 8 or higher then the Hit Threshold increases to 4. What does this mean? Well, when my cannibal cultist tries to attack you he will roll a single d6. If he rolls a 3 he will hit you if your Hit Threshold is 3 but will miss if your Hit Threshold is 4. Or will he? Let’s say the cannibal cultist is trying to claw your knife hand and decides to spend 2 Pool points of Scuffling. He rolls a 3 but now gets to add 2 to the roll for a total of 5. The cannibal just clawed at your forearm and now gets to roll damage which is again a single d6. Shooting a gun acts exactly the same way. The only difference between the two are the damage effects. A punch or kick is -2 to the damage roll, a small or improvised weapon is -1 to the damage roll, a larger club or light firearm applies 0 to the damage roll, a sword or heavy firearm adds&nbsp;+1 to the damage roll, and when firearms are fired at point blank range a&nbsp;+2 is added to the damage roll. Don't forget that if your Health or Stability is 0 to -5 then the attack difficulty just increased as well.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">These are the overall very basics to GUMSHOE. Simple right? I think so. Now let’s talk about what happens when you complete the mission. You just stopped the cannibals from bringing an entity through the membrane but now have all these dead corpses just laying around. What do you do about that? That's what the Veil-Out is. You as a group need to figure out a way to explain what happened to the world in a way that doesn't raise suspicion and keeps any evidence from reaching the public's attention.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">If I were asked to describe The Esoterrorists using movie references then I would say imagine you are Harry Tasker in&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_Lies" target="_blank">True Lies</a>&nbsp;but your employer is the Illuminati. Now add in&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Void_(2016_film)" target="_blank">The Void</a>&nbsp;and you'll have it.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><b>The Esoterrorists is recommended by 9 out of 10 Lotus Masters.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BlT5v2tjmn0/WdFB7bAf-sI/AAAAAAAAIHk/cZYwdAWU-jAwU0ugLxElBKiANnz0Y806gCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/9of10%2BLotus%2BMasters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="1349" height="76" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BlT5v2tjmn0/WdFB7bAf-sI/AAAAAAAAIHk/cZYwdAWU-jAwU0ugLxElBKiANnz0Y806gCPcBGAYYCw/s640/9of10%2BLotus%2BMasters.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: &quot;bookman old style&quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><b><br /></b><b>P.S.&nbsp;</b></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><b>Dont forget to check out the&nbsp;<a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/117231877652717213545" target="_blank">Nerds-Internationl Virtual Convention (NIV-Con)</a>&nbsp;on March 10th and 11th. It's a great way to meet new people and have a fun time gaming online.</b><br /><b><br /></b><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s320/Logo.png" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;;" target="_blank">Nerds-International Google+ community page</a></div></div>Matt Starkhttps://plus.google.com/109756489860852016703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514595937073664352.post-5284302795045698672018-02-24T10:28:00.001-06:002018-02-24T10:28:54.134-06:00Hollow Earth Expedition (HEX) Rant<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TvZLDDBVAiM/WpGFornUNkI/AAAAAAAALeo/BwzEdMEEFcguMC6hZ5I0wkp6Qk3ZCJp1gCLcBGAs/s1600/hex_600%2B%25281%2529.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="161" data-original-width="600" height="170" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TvZLDDBVAiM/WpGFornUNkI/AAAAAAAALeo/BwzEdMEEFcguMC6hZ5I0wkp6Qk3ZCJp1gCLcBGAs/s640/hex_600%2B%25281%2529.gif" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I'm only 4 pages into the combat chapter of HEX and I already can’t get over the Defense mechanic. Why are we required to make extra unnecessary rolls to defend against attacks? In this game, all attacks are opposed rolls which will severely slow down the game. I attack you and get 4 successes, now you roll defense to see if I hit you. Why? Why not use a static modifier like other games? Armor Class, Toughness, or whatever you want to call it. It's a combination of attributes, armor, or anything else used for defensive purposes. Then I started looking at how the Defense Rating is calculated and I was appalled to see that they take two ratings, change their names to confuse you and then combine them together. Defense Rating = Passive Defense&nbsp;+ Active Defense - Size. Look though the book and try to find Passive Defense or Active Defense. I found two instances where they explain what they are on pages 47 and 125. Passive Defense = Body rating and Active Defense = Dexterity rating. Now, I've got no problem with combining stats to get a derived secondary statistic but when you start changing names of shit then the meaning starts to get lost. At this point I've only hit the first page of chapter 4 and already I'm jumping around the chapter trying to find the meaning of Defense Rating.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Let's move on to combat maneuvers. Block is a maneuver that foregoes your attack to block all incoming Brawl attacks against you. Ok no problem, but wait, there's more.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">"Block</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Instead of making an attack, your character attempts to block all Brawl attacks made against her during the turn. If she is attacked, make an opposed Brawl roll against her opponent, including any appropriate Defense modifiers. If you roll more successes than her opponent, the blow is blocked and does no damage. If he rolls more successes than you, your character takes damage equal to the number of extra successes he rolled. Normally, only Brawl attacks may be blocked. If your character wants to block a Melee attack she suffers a –2 penalty on the attempt. Special: Because your character is actively trying to block Brawl attacks, her normal Defense rating does not apply. She retains her normal Defense rating against other types of attacks, however."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">So, what are the appropriate Defense modifiers that apply if her normal Defense rating does not apply? Well let’s go look for Defense modifiers and see. Guess what, there's 2 pages of modifiers starting on page 125. Luckily there's only a few. Size, Armor, Cover, Multiple Attackers, Wound Penalties, Touch Attacks, and Area of Effect Attacks. Here's my point, it's very difficult for a GM to make decisions on the fly with so many defensive rules. Sure, you can ad lib it on the fly but why should I have to. Give me a&nbsp;+1 or +2 and leave it at that. All of this may sound trivial to you but I'm only 4 pages into the chapter out of 22 pages and I'm already trying to figure out what all this stupid defense shit is all about.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> </div><div class="separator" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">At this point I'm ready to give up and say screw you guys, I'm outta here. I think I'll just put it back on the shelf for a while and come back to it again at a later time.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><b>P.S.&nbsp;</b></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><b>Dont forget to check out the&nbsp;<a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/117231877652717213545" target="_blank">Nerds-Internationl Virtual Convention (NIV-Con)</a>&nbsp;on March 10th and 11th. It's a great way to meet new people and have a fun time gaming online.</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s320/Logo.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;;" target="_blank">Nerds-International Google+ community page</a></div>Matt Starkhttps://plus.google.com/109756489860852016703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514595937073664352.post-59265177546898380892018-02-18T20:58:00.000-06:002018-02-18T20:58:27.759-06:00Herald: Lovecraft & Tesla The Tabletop Roleplaying Game Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3_cfMdXlQF8/WS3m37TuwiI/AAAAAAAAEzs/LS1i73demQ0lEr-xfPTXnGU-UM4wuIcWwCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/HeraldOrigianl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="873" data-original-width="1552" height="360" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3_cfMdXlQF8/WS3m37TuwiI/AAAAAAAAEzs/LS1i73demQ0lEr-xfPTXnGU-UM4wuIcWwCPcBGAYYCw/s640/HeraldOrigianl.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I finally got around to running&nbsp;<a href="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/225018/Herald-Lovecraft--Tesla-the-Tabletop-Roleplaying-Game" target="_blank">Herald: Lovecraft &amp; Tesla</a>, a Savage Worlds tabletop roleplaying game from Ravendesk Games and Action Lab Comics,&nbsp;and I really like the game. I would say this is pulp style of Cthulhu but honestly it all depends on your GM style. You could easily run this game in a pulp fashion or a hardcore Lovecraftian Cthulhu style. I had loads of fun running an adventure over the last two weekends even though there were some flaws that I should have anticipated before running it. I think the game I ran started out as a pulp version but by the time we got to the last scene it was more reminiscent of a Cthulhu game where 2 of the 3 player characters died and the last ran away in babbling frenzy of fear. MUWAHAHA!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This 180 page book contains the typical character creation and setting rules along with new edges and hindrances. The first 57 pages contains the player section while the remainder of the book is for the GM's eyes only. Included within are 45 pregenerated Novice characters, 5 Seasoned characters, and 5 Veteran characters. You also get a character sheet, a two page spread of 20's slang, a 10 page bestiary, 6 one sheets, and 5 adventures. As part of the Kickstarter campaign I took part in, I also got an adventure titled&nbsp;<a href="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/224455/Herald-Lovecraft--Tesla--A-Fistful-of-Dholes" target="_blank">A Fistful of Dholes</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The setting book itself is a rather fast read that I enjoyed. In this game the players are part of the Mythos Resistance, a secret organization of people from all walks of life (mostly famous people and celebrities) who are trying to protect John Q Public from the invasion of unnatural beings during the roaring 20's. They "keep the world safe and ignorantly blissful." Cosmic horror and invaders from beyond the stars is what this game is all about. There isn't any magic therefore there are no arcane backgrounds. Saying there isn't magic is a rather broad statement but it doesn't mean there isn't really magic. It just means that if it’s not normal or un-explainable then it’s not natural or "unnatural". There certainly could be magic in your version but in order to maintain the pulpy feel of the game then it should be explained in a way such as weird science rather than magical.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This setting uses the Fear mechanic from the Savage Worlds Deluxe core rulebook with a slight twist. It's up to the GM when a Fear check is called for but it shouldn't be used for anything weird or mysterious. This is more for Cosmic horror or unnatural encounters. "Being surprised by a bear in the woods is natural." Seeing giant 3 foot long worms erupting from a rotting corpse towards you is a Fear check. They also replace the d20 fright table with a 2d6 Cosmic Horror Chart. While you can still use the standard fright table, this new chart changes things up a bit. Most notably by removing the heart attack effect.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">If you've already purchased other Cthulhu style games then this book may not be for you. Don't get me wrong, this is a good book but the ideas presented here aren't entirely new. What you're getting are some new edges, hindrances, Tesla tech gear, lots of pregenerated characters, bestiary, and some adventures to run. Having said that, I think it's worth the $24.99 PDF price tag. The artwork is fantastic and looks like it came straight out of the comic books. The style and feel of this game via the artwork, time period, and Tesla inventions are what sets it apart from other Cthulhu games.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I decided to run the Dhole adventure for my friends Blaine, Jamie, and Stephen. As I said before, I had a blast putting my friends in the Mythos Resistance and seeing how they reacted to the situations they were put in. This adventure had two major flaws that I should have caught beforehand. One was a scene where the player characters talk to a condescending university professor as one of the clues they were provided. This scene has way too much information to convey to the players that it almost fell apart halfway through. There's nearly a full page and a half of text that your supposed to read aloud along with a requirement to have them pass a short oral exam of what they just listened to. If they fail the exam then they miss out on some vital information. I should have anticipated this ahead of time and adjusted how the information was conveyed. The second flaw comes in the final scene where the players are supposed to summon an Egyptian demi-god who helps them eliminate the threat. The problem with this is that it turns into an NPC vs NPC encounter taking away any heroic acts of the player characters. I think the right word for this is anticlimactic.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">As a side note, I just saw that the characters should have had some equipment that is supposed to be standard issue. The Lightning Pistol is a hand held lightning bolt projector that ignores armor. Oh well, at least I know for next time. Sorry fellas, I'm just a dumb dora that's full of banana oil.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><br /><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">As far as the setting book goes, I'd give it 4 out of 5 Jalizaran Moons.&nbsp;</span></b><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I think the sheer number of pregenerated characters and combination of one sheets and adventures bump it up a notch. The adventure A Fistful of Dholes on the other hand would get 3 out of 5.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3KZlgU-3-vc/WT6-x18BtAI/AAAAAAAAFGs/cRHVr7DQwCsVUQkaSWxQwUKIkKbOWeYEQCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/1004of5gramos-gold-coin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="100" data-original-width="400" height="80" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3KZlgU-3-vc/WT6-x18BtAI/AAAAAAAAFGs/cRHVr7DQwCsVUQkaSWxQwUKIkKbOWeYEQCPcBGAYYCw/s320/1004of5gramos-gold-coin.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>P.S. Some friends of mine have a new podcast about the Genesys RPG from Fantasy Flight Games. <a href="https://findingthenarrativepodcast.podbean.com/" target="_blank">It's called Finding The Narrative: A Genesys RPG Podcast.</a>&nbsp;The link will take you to Podbean and you can also find them on the <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176/stream/d3041aef-7ee0-4ae8-ba22-1f00fd957da9" target="_blank">Nerds-International Google+ subcategory page.</a>&nbsp;Check it out and you wont be disappointed.&nbsp;</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s320/Logo.png" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;;" target="_blank">Nerds-International Google+ community page</a></div>Matt Starkhttps://plus.google.com/109756489860852016703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514595937073664352.post-7149233861016205712018-02-05T19:00:00.002-06:002018-02-05T19:00:38.405-06:00Wacom Intuos Art Tablet Installation Problems<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sacGJSCUuwQ/Wnhp2xdFVNI/AAAAAAAALLU/dcBsaK4u058WZMofjJmQ9e5Un3by22NDACLcBGAs/s1600/41uelY1nzzL._SL500_AC_SS350_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="350" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sacGJSCUuwQ/Wnhp2xdFVNI/AAAAAAAALLU/dcBsaK4u058WZMofjJmQ9e5Un3by22NDACLcBGAs/s320/41uelY1nzzL._SL500_AC_SS350_.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Over this past weekend I was gifted a new Wacom Intuos Art Tablet from my parents for my 40th birthday. Yay! This is where my excitement stopped. Well, at least for the weekend anyway.<br /><br />I spent over 14 hours trying to get this tablet to work with my computer. At least 1 hour was spent waiting for my computer to restart many, many times. For whatever reason I kept getting an error that the driver is not running and no device was connected when I opened up the Wacom desktop center. At first this doesn't seem like a big deal because Windows did recognize the device but only as a mouse. The problem is that the pen buttons and the tablet buttons have not been set up properly and I can't configure how I wan't them set up. The use of pen pressure is also nonexistent for programs such as Adobe Photoshop or Corel Painter. By Sunday afternoon I finally got it working right and I only lost some sanity, hair, and time. Below you will find what I did to finally get it working.<br /><br />One last thing. When you finally get it working I highly recommend you unplug your computer mouse and stick it in a drawer. Use the tablet for everything from now on, or at least until you get competent with the pen and tablet. It's not hard to use but it does take some getting used to. I've had 25 years of practice using a computer mouse but only a few hours of graphic art tablet use.<br /><br />Getting this tablet to work was such a pain in the ass that I don't have any plans to update the driver unless it suddenly stops on me. I now have reservations recommending this brand to anyone with a Window based PC. If all of Wacom's tablet products are this difficult to install on Microsoft Windows then I would suggest a different manufacturer that has better support. There are lots of threads on the internet about this very same problem but none of them worked for me and Wacom has all but washed their hands when it comes to customer support for this particular tablet. It is their cheap model and I would hope their more expensive models would work right out of the box but I suspect they are leaning more towards Apple consumers for their customer base. All I can say is do your research before buying a tablet and that includes reading up on the problems associated with the software drivers.<br /><br /><div style="margin: 0in;"><b>P.S.&nbsp;</b></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><b>Dont forget to check out the&nbsp;<a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/117231877652717213545" target="_blank">Nerds-Internationl Virtual Convention (NIV-Con)</a>&nbsp;on March 10th and 11th. It's a great way to meet new people and have a fun time gaming online.</b><br /><b><br /></b><b><br /></b></div><br />I'm using the 64bit Windows 7 Professional Operating System. I've heard that Windows 10 is very similar in function so this might help people with that OS.<br /><br />First of all <b>don't follow the directions in the box. </b>I'm going to assume that if you're reading this then its too late anyway and you got here by doing a google search. The first thing we need to do is unplug the tablet from the computer.<br /><br />Now you need to remove files with the label of <b>Pen, Tablet, WacHID, Wacom, </b>or any combination of these.<br /><b><br /></b><b>Disclaimer: If you remove the wrong files from your computer you might just screw something up. I'm not an expert and you should verify your own work before making changes.&nbsp;</b><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;">I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY CHANGES YOU MAKE, YOU ARE.</span></b><br /><br />Go to <b>Start&gt;Control Panel&gt;Programs&gt;Programs and Features. </b>Scroll down and uninstall any Wacom programs. Then if it asks you to restart your computer click the <b>Restart Later</b>&nbsp;button.<br /><br />We still have to remove some files. Go to <b>Start&nbsp;</b>&nbsp;and in the box for searching for files type <b>regedit,</b>&nbsp;press enter. You need to be careful while in the registry editor. You can mess up your computer if you delete the wrong files. There are three folders we're going to need to look in. <b>HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, HKEY_CURRENT_USER,&nbsp;</b>&nbsp;and <b>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE</b>. In each of these folders you need to navigate to the <b>Software</b>&nbsp;folder and expand it. Scan through this folder for the 4 key words mentioned earlier and remove only those folders.<br /><br />We're not quite done removing the corrupted files yet. Now you need to go to <b>Start&gt;Computer&gt;OSDisk(C:)&gt;Windows&gt;System32&gt;DriverStore&gt;FileRepository</b>. Again scan through the files for the 4 key words and remove those files. This task is a little more difficult to accomplish though. For some odd reason you can't just delete these files. You see, eventhough you own the computer and files, you need to give yourself permission to make changes to these files. Select the file, right click and select <b>Properties</b>. Click on the <b>Security</b> tab and then select <b>Edit</b> underneath the usernames. Now you can give yourself permission to change the files by selecting the checkbox <b>Allow Full Control</b> for your username. Click <b>Apply</b> and then close the dialogue boxes. Congratulations you can now delete that file you just gave yourself permission to, but only that file. Yes, you have to give yourself permission to each file you want to remove.<br /><br />Now we finally have all Wacom software removed from the computer and you can restart it. Make sure you do a restart and not<b> </b>a shut down. They are different and changes may not take effect unless you do a restart. After it boots back up you can go through all of those file locations mentioned earlier and verify they're still not there.<br /><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;">Warning: You are about to disable all of your computers protection and it's imperitave that the computer is not connected to the internet either wired or wirelessly.&nbsp;</span></b><br /><br />Turn off or unplug your internet connection. Go to <b>Start&gt;Control Panel&gt;System and Security&gt;Windows Firewall</b>. On the left side click the <b>Turn Windows Firewall on or off</b>. Now select both boxes labeled <b>Turn off Windows Firewall (not Recommended) </b>and then <b>OK</b>. Now you need to disable any anit-virus/anti-malware programs you have installed on your machine.<br /><br />Once all this is done you can insert the disk provided with the tablet and install the device. Follow the on screen instructions but do not install any updated drivers. Just use the disk and when it prompts you to connect to the internet and download updated drivers, ignore that. Select the <b>Restart Later </b>option.<br /><br />Now go to <b>Start&gt;Devices and Printers </b>and you should be able to see the tablet listed there. Right click on the icon and select <b>Properties</b>. Under the <b>Hardware</b> tab select <b>Properties </b>again. Under the <b>General</b> tab select <b>Change Settings</b>. A new window will pop up and under the <b>Driver</b> tab select <b>Update Driver</b>. Select <b>Browse my computer for driver software&gt;Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer.</b>&nbsp;Uncheck the box that says Show compatible hardware. Scroll down to Wacom Technology Corporation and select the <b>Wacom Serial Pen Tablet</b>&nbsp;driver. A warning box will pop up and just select <b>Yes.&nbsp;</b><br /><b><br /></b>We're almost there. Go to <b>Start </b>and in the search box type <b>Services</b>. At the top, under Programs you should see a gear or cog icon next to Services, select that one. On my computer there were two programs that I needed to restart and alter. Scroll down until you find <b>Tablet PC Input Service</b> and right click that program. Select restart and wait for the program to restart. Now right click again and select Properties. Under the General tab <b>Startup type:</b> I left it on Automatic but some people have better luck with changing it to Manual. All this does is make the program try to start up when your computer reboots. Next go to the Recovery tab and change the First, Second, and Third failure options to <b>Restart the Service</b> for all three boxes then select Apply. Close out the dialogue box and scroll down to <b>Wacom Professional Service</b> and do the same procedure.<br /><br /><b>This is a very important step that you don't want to skip.</b> Turn on your Windows Firewall and any anti-virus/anti-malware programs you have. When you restart your computer one of the things that happens is that it will search for an internet connection and I don't wan't you to get any viruses because you were a dumb-ass.<br /><br />After the restart your graphic art tablet should be working and you should be able to set up the buttons and pen pressure. If not then try restarting the programs under Serivces. If that still doesn't work then I don't know what to tell ya. You're fucked and I can't help so please don't ask me questions about how to help you.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s320/Logo.png" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;;" target="_blank">Nerds-International Google+ community page</a></div>Matt Starkhttps://plus.google.com/109756489860852016703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514595937073664352.post-87195210040138107272018-01-18T09:23:00.000-06:002018-01-18T09:23:36.673-06:00Still Life and Death: A Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-P2VV2gPNqGo/WjqhHUhlVRI/AAAAAAAAKP0/CeIoSik1SG0Mv8A9nnrMW6TLsIcvrQDMACLcBGAs/s1600/Still%2BLife%2Band%2BDeath%2BImage.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="794" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-P2VV2gPNqGo/WjqhHUhlVRI/AAAAAAAAKP0/CeIoSik1SG0Mv8A9nnrMW6TLsIcvrQDMACLcBGAs/s640/Still%2BLife%2Band%2BDeath%2BImage.png" width="451" /></a></div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif;">Thanks to my friend <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/111990897275745324442" target="_blank">Eric Lamoureux</a> from the <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" target="_blank">Nerds-International G+ community</a>, this adventure was brought to my attention. It is an interesting horror adventure for use with Savage Worlds. Still Life and Death by Ben Baker from Melting Point Publishing is a 43-page pdf available on DriveThruRPG. It was released on June 14, 2017 and is their first product. Also available for pay what you want is a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/227964/Still-Life-and-Death-Character-Pack" target="_blank">Character Pack</a>&nbsp;which contains 8 pregenerated characters for both Seasoned and Veteran ranks.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif;">Even though this one starts off with a typical "please help me find my missing loved one", it is a great adventure with a good twist. Inside you'll find an adventure full of cultists, zombies, and a pig-ogre. It's difficult to write a review on an adventure without spoilers but I'm gonna try.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif;">This adventure is an investigative horror scenario with a Lovecraftian feel. It uses your normal playwright formula of three acts and three scenes with a bonus/alternate scene thrown in in act three. Included in the adventure are 5 extras and 4 wildcard NPCs. One of the things that sets these NPCs apart from other publisher's products is that Ben included what he calls Roleplay Hint's, Appearance, and History info on each one. This helps the GM get a feel for the characters so they can relate it to the players much better. It's clear he spent some time thinking about the characters and how they fit into the story.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif;">Throughout the adventure Ben has included fictional snippets at the beginning of each scene. This kind of threw me off a bit and made me wonder why he included it, so I asked him and his response was "</span><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Regarding the Fiction sections, I think sometimes it can be difficult for a writer to really convey the mood and atmosphere they are trying to build in a game.&nbsp;Realistically, I’d say that however a GM wants to run any game then as long as the players enjoy it then it’s right for that particular group. But I wanted a way to help give the GM more ideas for the tone and setting, and also touch on some aspects of the larger setting that it’s not practical to do using only box text and the like.&nbsp;I think the Fiction parts help break up the flow of the book.&nbsp;Also, sometimes a group will find a way to really derail an adventure, and having some fiction to plunder for inspiration can really help a struggling GM to get the story back on track without railroading the party too heavily."</span><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif;">It's a bit long to be used as a convention game but I suppose you could shorten it up enough to fit into a four-hour time slot. I believe this is more suited for multiple game sessions. One thing I'm fairly certain of is that this has huge potential to be a Total Party Killer. There's potential for some combat in the first act but the next one is where the meat grinder starts with three combat encounters back to back. If&nbsp;the players make it to act three, they have their work cut out with another very deadly encounter that could turn into yet another encounter. You may want to run away if you get the chance!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif;">Sometime this month or February, Ben is planning to launch a Kickstarter campaign to fund a number of other standalone adventures and supplements. One of which will be The Krell Effect, a modern adventure that draws the party into a race against time to stop a crazed scientist from unleashing chronal energy and tapping into them a seriously misguided attempt to become ‘the immortal master of time’. He also has plans to publish a mini encounter called Carjacked. This can be used with The Krell Effect or any other modern adventure.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif;">The last project he told me about sounds like a huge job. Ben wants to publish a character pack for 22 Savage Worlds fantasy player characters. Included within this pack will be separate sheets for each character to span the ranks of Novice through Legendary. That’s a total of 132 character sheets! So keep an eye out for his Kickstarter campaign.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif;">One last treat for my wonderful readers. The first 100 readers to use this link </span><a href="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?discount=9e7c114d19" target="_blank"><span style="background: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: &quot;Helvetica&quot;,sans-serif;">www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.<wbr></wbr>php?discount=9e7c114d19</span></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;">will get a 20% discount on Still Life and Death.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;,serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif;">This barbarian would pay 4 out of 5 Jalarizan Moons for Still Life and Death.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SVWyWCBjt-c/WT690VY91mI/AAAAAAAAFGs/k-HTsEIQTb0W0m8X4clWbKm4xC2bk-IZgCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/4of5gramos-gold-coin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="50" data-original-width="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SVWyWCBjt-c/WT690VY91mI/AAAAAAAAFGs/k-HTsEIQTb0W0m8X4clWbKm4xC2bk-IZgCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/4of5gramos-gold-coin.jpg" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Bookman Old Style&quot;, serif;">I'd also like to welcome the newest member of the Nerds-International family. <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/107602075115611429359" target="_blank">Gaming Ronin</a> has multiple blogs where he does reviews and talks about his experience with RPG's and other shit. Check it out at&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Bookman Old Style, serif;"><a href="http://gamingronin.blogspot.com/">http://gamingronin.blogspot.com/</a></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><b>P.S.&nbsp;</b></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><b>Dont forget to check out the <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/117231877652717213545" target="_blank">Nerds-Internationl Virtual Convention (NIV-Con)</a> on March 10th and 11th. It's a great way to meet new people and have a fun time gaming online.</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s320/Logo.png" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;;" target="_blank">Nerds-International Google+ community page</a></div>Matt Starkhttps://plus.google.com/109756489860852016703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514595937073664352.post-74951447537596478932017-12-12T06:57:00.000-06:002017-12-12T07:33:08.020-06:00Patreon and why you should care<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7_qhxxvHwDY/Wi_G4CzXeKI/AAAAAAAAJ7A/xP2hccisyWk97p_jy6UiL7bqxa2QJ0uNQCLcBGAs/s1600/Patreon%2BLogo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="930" height="219" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7_qhxxvHwDY/Wi_G4CzXeKI/AAAAAAAAJ7A/xP2hccisyWk97p_jy6UiL7bqxa2QJ0uNQCLcBGAs/s640/Patreon%2BLogo.png" width="640" /></a></div>On December 7th, a date which will live in infamy, Patreon sent a message to patrons announcing a change to the way pledges would be managed. I've attached a pdf copy of the email I received and I highlighted the most important part of the email. <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1e62dgQod4lLSdNCTMU5BnRqqcDvtZyFp" target="_blank">You can view that email here</a>. At first I thought no big deal, it's only 2.9%&nbsp;+$0.35. That's about $0.37 for $1 pledges. Then I started doing the math of how much extra I'd have to pay. If I had 25 pledges of $1 each normally I'd pay $25 dollars a month but with this new service fee it will be more like $34.25 a month. That's $9.25 extra because of $0.37 per pledge. Now, I'm just small potatoes and I don't actually pledge $25 a month but that's not the point. Its abundantly clear that Patreon is targeting those who pledge smaller amounts of $1, $2, or $3. I don't know if they did any market research on this or if it was just a bold gamble on their part. It looks like they're getting greedy and patrons are starting to take notice.<br /><br />Unfortunately, the only people getting hurt by all of this are the creators. With patrons dropping like flies, the already struggling creators are losing money. I am one of those people who have discontinued all of my pledges and I just wanted to say I'm sorry to the creators I used to support. It has nothing to do with you and has everything to do with Patreon's shady business tactics. I truly hope that Patreon takes a step back and re-evaluates how much damage they've done to their brand. To me, Patreon is dead. I won't support anything via Patreon from now on. I'm willing to bet that there's someone just around the corner ready to step in and provide a fair subscription service for content creators. I wouldn't be surprised if Paypal was already working on it. After all, most of peoples pledges already get routed through Paypal anyway.<br /><br />I sincerely wish the creators the best of luck.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s320/Logo.png" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;;" target="_blank">Nerds-International Google+ community page</a></div>Matt Starkhttps://plus.google.com/109756489860852016703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514595937073664352.post-52361367578784661192017-11-23T10:16:00.002-06:002017-11-23T10:16:37.486-06:00Con on the Cob!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qkf5SeJBrsg/WhbuComY8OI/AAAAAAAAJYc/nV5kUZMdTwULJbZCeUlIOzAq-H-lTTFDQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_0346.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="626" data-original-width="836" height="476" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qkf5SeJBrsg/WhbuComY8OI/AAAAAAAAJYc/nV5kUZMdTwULJbZCeUlIOzAq-H-lTTFDQCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_0346.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Today is November 24 which in the good ol' US of A means Thanksgiving. Gobble, gobble, gobble. Corny, I know, but happy holidays to everyone.<br /><br />This is a long overdue post report of <a href="http://cononthecob.com/" target="_blank">Con on the Cob</a> and some thoughts on a game I'm a player in. Con on the Cob is a convention put on by <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/+Muthaoithcreations" target="_blank">Andy Hopp</a> near Cleveland Ohio. For those of you who don't know, Andy is the author and illustrator of the Savage Worlds game Low Life. This convention was a blast to be a part of. This is the most family friendly con I've ever seen. For me the best part of the con were than the group of friends that attended with me.<br /><br /><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" target="_blank">Nerds-International</a> was proudly represented at Con on the Cob by <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/+GaryMcCallum" target="_blank">Gary McCallum</a>, <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/109616352279883531812" target="_blank">Jamie Pierson</a>, <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/100961220574214757423" target="_blank">Blaine Wagner</a>, <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/111990897275745324442" target="_blank">Eric Lamoureux</a>, <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/+MatthewJones_ImaginaryTruth" target="_blank">Matthew Jones</a>, <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/105267651501016773541" target="_blank">Chris Holmes</a>, <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/113722245476845940855" target="_blank">Stephen Dragonspawn</a>, and <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/112196835704783831986" target="_blank">Tony Fanning</a>. This was the best convention I've ever been to and it was because of these people. Most of us arrived on Wednesday night before the con started. We played a couple of games but mostly just hung out in the atrium. Later that night we saw Andy and he stopped by to say hi. I had so much fun that most of the days start to blur together for me. I remember all the games just not when they were played. All of the games I played were run by the N-I folks so I can't really speak about the other games going on at the con.<br /><br />Thursday morning I ran Tales from the Loop: Roleplaying in the 80's that never was. This was my first time running Tales from the Loop so I was a bit apprehensive but got into the groove pretty quickly. This game was the most fun I've ever had as a GM and it was all because of the players. We started out by making some characters from the archetypes in the book plus one I made up. This took us somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes. Then we introduced each character and got right into the first mystery in the book; Summer Break and Killer Birds. I think this game went so well because the players fell right into the roles. I think its because all of us at the table grew up in the 80's and they're a group of great role players. I really liked that I didn't have to make any dice rolls as the GM and I could focus more on what the players wanted to do. My job was to give them clues and see how they reacted. Fortunately they had some great ideas and I was able to roll with them. I only used two scenes from the mystery and everything else was based upon what the players wanted to do. I really like Tales from the Loop and if you don't have this yet then you really should pick it up.<br /><br />Later that day we had a full table of players for Blaine's game of Formula D. This was the second game I've played of Formula D. It was still a little confusing on some of the rules but nonetheless we all had lots of fun. It took us 4 hours to do 2 laps around the board.<br /><br />On Friday morning I was scheduled to run Savage Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Overall I would say the game was a success but there were definitely some problems. I was using Palladium's Truckin' Turtles book for the adventure and the story was inconsistent at best. There were some great scenes and the players were great but the story just seemed to fall apart. I brought along some props for the players but I didn't get it to the level I had hoped to. This game will be a work in progress for sure. I also got some great feedback from the players as well. Later on in the day I met the guy who inspired me to make this game. <a href="https://plus.google.com/111307696565496762647" target="_blank">Norm Hensley</a>'s blog, <a href="http://savageboldfistblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/" target="_blank">savageboldfistblog</a>&nbsp;is where I got the characters from and I just needed to modify slightly because he made them using the older Savage Worlds rules.<br /><br />In the afternoon Tony ran a game of Fantasy Flight Games Star Wars RPG. I really wanted to play this game for two reasons. Number one its Star Wars. Come on, who doesn't want to play Star Wars. Number two was because I was always skeptical of the narrative dice system used by FFG. Tony ran a great game and it left me wanting to try the narrative dice again. We went through an entire adventure of Star Wars without once firing a weapon. Well almost. Tony really wanted to show us noobs how combat worked in FFG so he made us fight one minion group of troopers. Unfortunately I think it backfired on him just a little bit. We managed to take out the troopers before they even had a chance to do anything. By the end of this game I was just starting to grasp the concept of FFG's narrative dice. I was still a little confused on the symbols and how to utilize the effects of the dice. With Tony's help and with the help of other experienced players at the table the mechanics of the dice narration made the game run smoothly. I'm still not sold on it though.<br /><br />As Saturday rolled around, Chris ran a game of Edge of Primeval Thule. This is his home-brew game of FFG's Edge of the Empire mixed with Primeval Thule. Think FFG's narrative dice used with a gritty fantasy setting where Cthulhu is alive and well. I wanted to play this game because I really enjoyed reading Primeval Thule and it would give me another chance at using the narrative dice. The adventure was great and only two characters died at the very end. Chris did a great job of challenging the players and the dice system was starting to grow on me. It's still slow going when trying to interpret the dice symbols but that would come more naturally over time. My biggest confusion with this system is how to use advantage, threat, triumph, and despair. Chris was able to provide suggestions on how to use them best and it worked out well for everyone.<br /><br />I think Chris and Tony both did an excellent job of explaining FFG's narrative dice and I thoroughly enjoyed both games. Both of you guys are excellent GM's. After the con I find myself wanting to play FFG Star Wars and now FFG Genesys' release is just around the corner. I think my biggest complaint about the narrative dice system is the symbols on the dice. It's not intuitive as to which symbol cancels the corresponding inverse symbol. An explosion (success) cancels a triangle (failure). With the new Genesys dice coming out I think that problem will be solved.<br /><br />An hour later Eric ran a playtest for a new game he's writing which is tentatively called Wiseguys. This is a full blown Savage Worlds setting in a similar vein as Just Insert Imagination's smash hits Fuhgeddaboudit! and Badabing Badaboom! Eric has some great ideas for this game and the pregenerated characters were awesome. I played an Elvis impersonator who can disguise himself and impersonate others after studying the mark for a short time. He was also a cooler. This was hilarious. As a known cooler in Las Vegas, I was banned from all casino's. Of course I had to convince a casino employee to give me his uniform so I could sneak into the hotel. Then as I walked through the casino floor to the hotel everybody started losing and the machines were acting funky. Eric did a great job with his description of what happened. More wacky antics ensued and in the end we got the guy who sold us out. Keep your eye out for Wiseguys.<br /><br />Throughout the con we pretty much stopped the RPG's around 7pm every night. That was reserved for events and live streams. We had our own table at the con thanks to Andy and we hung out together and played card games. Gary was the evening entertainment most nights. That guy if fucking hilarious. Gary, you're the man! He convinced a police officer to allow an artist to draw a penis on his forearm. Of course when I said this con is family friendly, the evening is for adults only. All of the child friendly events were held during the day up to 7 pm. There was a costume contest, miniature golf, basketball, video arcade, swimming pool, miniature painting, and more. They even had staff to entertain and babysit the kids so the parents could partake in the convention games.<br /><br />I also wanted to take this time to write about a bi-weekly game I'm currently in on Wednesday nights. Mutant Year Zero from Modiphius Entertainment. We have played a few sessions of this game and I find myself getting a little bored with it. The setting, the GM, and the other players are good. It just feels like there's way too much book keeping for my tastes. We literally have to keep track of everything. Currency, food, water, status of our ark projects, and condition of our ark are most of it. We just hit a cliffhanger last night so I'm interested to see where it goes but I'm losing focus of my character how to play him. It's really hard to explain why it feels the way it does. There's social conflict in our Ark and now we just got attacked by outsiders. One of the difficult things for me is the meta knowledge. Imagine yourself as someone who has never seen a pair of scissors before. In the game your character doesn't know what they are but you know what it is and how to use them. Separating everyday common knowledge from the game and roleplaying it is difficult for me. I'm also curious to see what the others think about this game. I believe Eric said he's losing interest in the game as well but I don't want to put word in his mouth.<br /><br />There were many, many, many more games hosted by Nerds from the network that I didn't mention only because the blog post is getting lengthy. I didn't forget and they aren't any less memorable than the ones I mentioned here. You guys Rock! Con on the Caaaaab!<br /><br />P.S. Thank you to all the people I mentioned earlier for making the first annual Nerds-International gathering at Con on the Cob one I will never forget. Thank you Andy Hopp for your hard work putting on the con and letting us take over part of the atrium. I'm still waiting for you to run Low Life for us Andy, maybe next year.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s320/Logo.png" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;;" target="_blank">Nerds-International Google+ community page</a></div>Matt Starkhttps://plus.google.com/109756489860852016703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514595937073664352.post-51168975859165636282017-10-01T14:42:00.000-05:002017-10-01T14:42:21.399-05:00Seven Worlds Test Drive Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SaUSdySImuI/WdEM-hp4rFI/AAAAAAAAIHQ/uLLopiOybEItBMcq435uLcQvVURFvKxmgCLcBGAs/s1600/Seven_Worlds_Test_Drive%2BCover%2BPage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1237" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SaUSdySImuI/WdEM-hp4rFI/AAAAAAAAIHQ/uLLopiOybEItBMcq435uLcQvVURFvKxmgCLcBGAs/s640/Seven_Worlds_Test_Drive%2BCover%2BPage.jpg" width="494" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">For those of you that may not have heard, Seven Worlds is a new Savage Worlds setting coming to Kickstarter soon. It is written by Luis Enrique Torres and published by Intellistories. You can get the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/215324/Seven-Worlds-Test-Drive" target="_blank">Seven Worlds Test Drive at DriveThruRPG here</a>. The Wild Die Podcast did an interview episode with Luis but as of this writing it is a Patreon supporter only episode.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.patreon.com/thewilddie/posts" target="_blank">Here is a link to their Patreon page</a>&nbsp;if you would like to pledge your support to listen to the episode. I believe it will be released to the public when the Kickstarter campaign goes live so you may want to wait.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Right off the bat my first question is, what sets this science fiction RPG apart from all the rest? First of all it has the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/sealofapproval.php" target="_blank">Atomic Rockets Seal of Approval</a>. What is that you ask? It is a highly sought after approval by Sci-fi writers, game designers, and programmers. It's basically just an acknowledgement that the fiction written is based upon real science and therefore more closely related to hard Sci-fi.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">My first impression of this document is it looks really good. The layout by Thomas Shook is clean and simple, I like it. The first page after the cover is the map of the known universe. The map is usually the first thing I look for in Sci-fi settings. This 2-dimensional map looks fantastic and has 7 colonized planets. Hmm, I wonder where they got the name from? You can also go to their webpage at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sevenworldsrpg.com/" target="_blank">www.sevenworldsrpg.com</a>&nbsp;and get yourself a 3-dimensional map. I tried the Instant Reality InstantPlayer but it seemed pretty glitchy to me. I have yet to try the Cortona 3d Viewer.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">There are 6 pages of setting background information (I like to call it the fluff). After looking for the map, I then go looking for the fluff. This is where I get a good sense of how the rest of the book will be written. The game starts out in the year 2217, exactly 200 years after the Circle Foundation is created. There are two major organizations, The Circle and The Brotherhood. The Circle, founded by Donovan in 2017, is focused on space exploration, expansion, and protecting humanity from the dangers therein. The Psion Brotherhood, founded by Michaels, is dedicated to protecting and educating people with psionic abilities. These two founders, Donovan and Michaels, were high school friends who had a falling out over a girl named Melissa.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">In 2021 Helium-3 fusion reactors are invented and the search for a stable supply of this fuel leads the human race to mine it from the gas planet Saturn in the 2050's. Around this time Donovan passes away and his longtime partner Melissa gives his personal notebooks which include theoretical formulas to what would become the basis for an Interstellar Engine. In 2089 the first test of this engine is successful with a 6 light year jump. Two years later an alien race makes itself known to humanity. The N'ahili race arrived, attracted by the interstellar jump to Barnard's Star, and shared coordinates of jump membranes to several new stars within 12 light years of Earth (Sol).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Humans have now colonized two new worlds and are eager for more expansion. The N'ahili come to the rescue and provide more star coordinates. Now the known universe has expanded to 22 light years from Sol and two more planets are settled. This second set of planets are nearly identical to that of Earth making them important to humanity's survival. In 2133 an unknown comet was discovered on a direct path to Earth. The planetary defenses are able to break up the comet into smaller pieces but it is too late. The effects of an impact induced nuclear winter will last until around 2150. Evacuees are transported to the planets of Concordia and Bay Jing making them equivalent to Earth in both population and importance. By 2165 the N'ahili surprise us again with new coordinates which increase the human presence to 30 light years from Sol.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">This new expansion of human kind brings on the settlement of 2 new planets of which one is important. It is important because Concordia and Bay Jing both settle on the planet of Nouvelle Vie. Conflicts between these two colonies leads to the first war humans have in space. During the war, the Circle is instrumental in stopping war crimes mostly by the use of the Stellar Communications Network. Widespread news updates keep the warring planets honest, or at least as honest as possible during war. The Brotherhood also plays an important role in the war by helping to prevent atrocities through the use of "suggestion" and mind-reading without direct mind-control. By 2181 the war is over but the government of Bay Jing is secretly manipulating the population into blaming the Brotherhood which leads to the Psion Riots of 2188.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">This brings us to the present day of 2217. Earth has now returned to its former glory and is seen as an equal among Concordia and Bay Jing. Nouvelle Vie is still being torn apart by home grown terrorists waging guerrilla war. The last colonized planet of Logan's End has become the ultimate frontier world with exotic jungles and tourist attractions. Recently, strange energy signatures have been detected in space around an asteroid belt in the far reaches of Nouvelle Vie. Ships are disappearing and stories are circulating about suspicious activity.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Included in the Test Drive are new setting rules, skills, hindrances, edges, psionics, a new derived stat, space ship combat, four pre-generated characters, and an adventure designed for four players. This Test Drive doesn't go into creating characters or covering all the new stats. It is meant to provide you with the necessary information to play the included characters and adventure. Mental Toughness is the new derived stat which is equal to two plus half of your Spirit. This is a measure of how tough your mind is against Psionic attacks.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The two new setting rules are<b>&nbsp;Microgravity and Zero-G</b>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<b>Assistants</b>. Microgravity and Zero-G reduce the character's pace by half and cause a -2 physical action penalty. A roll of a 1 on the trait die regardless of the Wild die causes the character to slip and tumble in around in three dimensions (treat the character as Shaken recover with Agility). Weapons that are not rated for Zero-G use cause the user to become Shaken as before on an attack roll of 1 or 2. There is a -2 penalty for using non Zero-G weapons as well. In Seven Worlds most characters own an Assistant. This virtual assistant appears in your Augmented Reality (AR) glasses, lenses, or on display screens. There are numerous functions the assistant can help the hero's with. During combat the assistant can be activated with the use of a bennie and perform a smarts trick, test of will, generate an advantage/disadvantage, or use a special action. If the assistants roll succeeds with a raise the player gets the bennie back.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">There are 7 pages dedicated to space combat in Seven Worlds. Right away that should tell you something. In my opinion this is where Seven Worlds falls short. In a system that's supposed to Fast! Furious! Fun! space combat feels way too crunchy for Savage Worlds. This almost seems like a mini's game within a roleplaying game where distance and facing are important. They do a good job of explaining how to do it and provide examples but it's just now my cup of tea.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><br /><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">That was a highly condensed version of fluff in the Seven Worlds Test Drive document. If any of that sounds interesting to you then I encourage you to read it for yourself. I really hope the final setting includes more fluff. I enjoyed Luis' writing and look forward to reading the full setting once it is published.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Overall 9 out of 10 Lotus Masters recommend Seven Worlds.</span></b><o:p></o:p></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BlT5v2tjmn0/WdFB7bAf-sI/AAAAAAAAIHg/MVM3V8ABKqE5Qka5JBWr2MJulxCUMQ74QCLcBGAs/s1600/9of10%2BLotus%2BMasters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="1349" height="76" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BlT5v2tjmn0/WdFB7bAf-sI/AAAAAAAAIHg/MVM3V8ABKqE5Qka5JBWr2MJulxCUMQ74QCLcBGAs/s640/9of10%2BLotus%2BMasters.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s320/Logo.png" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;;" target="_blank">Nerds-International Google+ community page</a></div>Matt Starkhttps://plus.google.com/109756489860852016703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514595937073664352.post-29370740023045435742017-09-13T00:57:00.000-05:002017-09-13T00:57:08.137-05:00Some Thoughts On Railroads and Sandboxes<span style="font-family: inherit;">Yesterday, my friend Eric Lamoureux posted a link to <a href="http://dmdavid.com/tag/why-dungeons-dragons-players-dont-love-sandboxes-as-much-as-they-think/" target="_blank">David Hartlage's (a.k.a. DM David) blog post</a> and asked the <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" target="_blank">Nerds-International Google&nbsp;+ community</a> what they think about this topic. I posted my brief thoughts on this and the comments afterwards made it clear to me that they misunderstood what I meant. Below is an excerpt of the discussion with my response. Here is a <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/111990897275745324442/posts/8rvFNeRqrux?fscid=z131udnblni5frzti22hcdk4ulffutspt04.1505259179454707" target="_blank">link to the G+ post</a>.</span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Iypf0ha-ar8/Wbiro2FK5oI/AAAAAAAAHHY/GJ1Xa_EEVJswyHgYlBDhp5Rs5GvVYXFBQCLcBGAs/s1600/Screenshot_20170912-224650.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="992" data-original-width="927" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Iypf0ha-ar8/Wbiro2FK5oI/AAAAAAAAHHY/GJ1Xa_EEVJswyHgYlBDhp5Rs5GvVYXFBQCLcBGAs/s320/Screenshot_20170912-224650.jpg" width="299" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="goog_297086897"></span><span id="goog_297086898"></span>In order to explain what I mean I'll have to get the D&amp;D 5th edition version of The Curse of Strahd out. Hang on a minute. I'll be right back. This is what Bill Lear is asking about. On page 35 you'll find a map of Barovia which details 26 points of interest.&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h391py7jb8o/WbixHhy9M1I/AAAAAAAAHHs/LBpmH_sV5FAxuLC2TP60mCRTA20AU0XngCLcBGAs/s1600/Barovia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="372" data-original-width="580" height="409" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h391py7jb8o/WbixHhy9M1I/AAAAAAAAHHs/LBpmH_sV5FAxuLC2TP60mCRTA20AU0XngCLcBGAs/s640/Barovia.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This campaign is what I would call railroads in a sandbox. With 26 locations on the map players are free to move from one Point Of Interest (POI) to another POI. They get to choose where to go and what to do. Each POI could be a single event or multiple encounters. In the case of one POI containing multiple encounters, I would call that a mini sandbox. Again, the players are free to choose where to go and what to do.&nbsp;</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Up to this point it sounds like one big sandbox, right? Well, yes and no. Each POI has at least one railroad and sometimes more. The premise here is that the players are trying to get home and in order to do that they need to defeat Strahd. In order to defeat him they need to gather clues and obtain magic items to help weaken the vampire. So, how do we find these magic items? Railroad adventures within the sandbox. With a clear defined goal of defeating Strahd to return home, the players are being railroaded into following the story plot. They may accomplish this in any order but the DM has a big influence on where the players will go next by which clues were given at any given POI.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So, with that out of the way, I can explain what I was thinking when I said "Players want a railroad with the illusion of a sandbox." I wasn't referring to a campaign when I made that statement. I was thinking on a smaller scale of a single adventure but that could be expanded to campaign play. For the purposes of a single adventure, I was thinking more along the lines of a GUMSHOE adventure.&nbsp;<span style="font-family: inherit;">In the case of Ashen Stars, the adventure has a clear objective set out by the contract the Lasers agreed to take on. This could apply to any adventure though.&nbsp;</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I probably shouldn't post this next picture because I want to run this adventure and it will spoil the game for those potential players but here it is. The picture below will help explain what I mean by a railroad with the illusion of a sandbox. It is a simple flowchart, well it seemed more difficult when I made it, but it is simple nonetheless.&nbsp;</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sf29gOjDdho/Wbi_MCX1KBI/AAAAAAAAHH8/gqGeeDMlS3E18S7Ihf8A7CoLJRHoPU6UQCLcBGAs/s1600/The%2BWitness%2BOf%2BMy%2BWorth%2BFlow%2BChart.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="837" data-original-width="519" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sf29gOjDdho/Wbi_MCX1KBI/AAAAAAAAHH8/gqGeeDMlS3E18S7Ihf8A7CoLJRHoPU6UQCLcBGAs/s640/The%2BWitness%2BOf%2BMy%2BWorth%2BFlow%2BChart.png" width="396" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As you can see, this flow chart represents 13 scenes from an investigative adventure written by Robin D. Laws. The first 3 scenes are on the rails but then the players could potentially have a choice to go in two different directions. This is an illusion of choice though because they converge back to a common scene. Then they could have 3 more choices which split off in different directions (sandbox illusion) but they again converge back to a common scene. And finally, we're back on the rails again for the conclusion of the adventure. The players think it's a sandbox adventure because they have what appear to be free will choices, assuming they ask the right questions to find the clues, but you and I both know that this is a railroad. It is more of a plot-driven story than character-driven one. Sure the players have choices that affect their course through the adventure but they won't change the completion of the story.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This same method could be used for a campaign. Just make another flow chart but replace the scenes with adventures. In the beginning the GM can set them on a path (railroad) and then give them a choice of a couple of adventures to choose from. Whichever path they choose the next adventure will be back on the rails. Now you can give them 3 or more choices of adventures to pick from and they will then converge back to an adventure the GM chooses. It's a masterfully crafted railroad with the illusion of a sandbox.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Well it's late and I'm getting tired as I write this so I hope it makes sense to the 3 people who read this.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">P.S. I think both of the approaches I've outlined here are excellent but I prefer the second one.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s320/Logo.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;;" target="_blank">Nerds-International Google+ community page</a></div><br />Matt Starkhttps://plus.google.com/109756489860852016703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514595937073664352.post-24103816476281603962017-09-08T13:06:00.001-05:002017-09-08T15:04:37.074-05:00Which Cthulhu game is the best one?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1LZY1WKaK40/WbK8ZkYvq1I/AAAAAAAAHDk/G-W-pG1ffWcRhV4nxvQ2lM8oBv96M6USwCLcBGAs/s1600/cthulhu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="360" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1LZY1WKaK40/WbK8ZkYvq1I/AAAAAAAAHDk/G-W-pG1ffWcRhV4nxvQ2lM8oBv96M6USwCLcBGAs/s640/cthulhu.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />With the online Fantasy Grounds Convention around the corner on Friday the 13th, I've been waning back and forth on which game I want to run. My first thought was a Savage Starship Troopers game but I don't think it lends itself well to interludes or role playing in general. I've never been a fan of hierarchical organizations in role playing so it's down on my list right now. I mean who wants to be told what to do by another player at the table and you might not even know who that other player is. I sure wouldn't want to.<br /><br />That brings me to the topic of this post. Cthulhu. Which version of Cthulhu RPG is best? For this topic I'm going to limit it to <a href="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/56336/Call-of-Cthulhu-6th-edition?term=call+of+&amp;test_epoch=0" target="_blank">Call of Cthulhu</a> using the Basic Role Playing system from Chaosium, <a href="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/55567/Trail-of-Cthulhu" target="_blank">Trail of Cthulhu</a> using the GUMSHOE system from Pelgrane Press, and <a href="https://cthulhudark.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders/95788" target="_blank">Cthulhu Dark</a> using it's own rules-light system from Graham Walmsley.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="452" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aP9yp77jsvM/WbK-s-X_7ZI/AAAAAAAAHDw/_LaDpXJn074UgHYESShNO9ro-0e0a32aQCLcBGAs/s640/Cthulhu-Dark.png" width="451" /></div><br />Lets start with the new kid on the block, Graham Walmsely. Before I get going here's a <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6Mo4jJYviM5SjZWbG56WkVzX0U" target="_blank">free copy of the official rules for Cthulhu Dark</a>. As you can see, Cthulhu Dark really is rules-light. <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6Mo4jJYviM5ckNjNGJqM1dBNms" target="_blank">Here's a different version of the same free rules</a> that I personally think looks better. The only difference between the two are that the official version of the rules uses <b>Insight</b>&nbsp;instead of Insanity. The simplicity of it makes me think there's something wrong with it. My first impression was that the insanity rules were a bit over the top but then I started thinking about it and I think it fits in with the theme of Lovecraftian horror and the possibility of quickly going insane. Then I saw this section of final points and it made sense to me.&nbsp;<span id="goog_2013990038"></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qUno606uEdQ/WbLC_VyzaqI/AAAAAAAAHEI/6s4NYZoFTUMcciOS5XeV7vK772lg7Qj6ACLcBGAs/s1600/20170903_075737.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1086" data-original-width="1600" height="216" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qUno606uEdQ/WbLC_VyzaqI/AAAAAAAAHEI/6s4NYZoFTUMcciOS5XeV7vK772lg7Qj6ACLcBGAs/s320/20170903_075737.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I need to run this game to make my own conclusion on whether this game will be good or not. In my opinion Graham Walmsley is a good writer and the preview book I have shows that. I have no doubt in my mind that the adventures written for this would easily be compatible with any of the Cthulhu games with a little tweaking to make it work for the respective system. That actually says a lot about how something is written. The adventure provided in the preview book takes place in London 1851 and is more of a true H.P. Lovecraft investigation style story with just a little chance of combat.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><span id="goog_2013990037"></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MVHz2P9xlYE/WbK-2uTGrwI/AAAAAAAAHD4/DXy_Y4Ck0mA2j81O2MT9wLnpW1BH05-uwCLcBGAs/s1600/CoC6thed.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="464" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MVHz2P9xlYE/WbK-2uTGrwI/AAAAAAAAHD4/DXy_Y4Ck0mA2j81O2MT9wLnpW1BH05-uwCLcBGAs/s640/CoC6thed.gif" width="494" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Next we have Big Brother. Call of Cthulhu has been around since 1981 with little changes made until the most recent 7th edition. For the purposes of this discussion I'll stay away from 7th edition because I own 6th edition and don't plan on buying 7th anytime soon. I understand there were some major changes made to 7th edition and not all of them loved by the CoC fans. I have not completely read this book or played in any games which is why these choices are difficult for me. I have seen some CoC games played on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/TheDiceStormers" target="_blank">The Dice Stormers Youtube channel</a>. They do a good job with their production of the channel and now I want to play it. This version is mostly a percentile based game. The action resolution mechanism for CoC is percentage based which means it is a d100 roll. The player rolls d100 and is looking for a result which is at or lower than his/her indicated skill score. For opposed attribute checks there is a resistance table in the book but it doesn't include rules for opposed skill rolls.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dAX60-zrKBY/WbK-2qHTABI/AAAAAAAAHD0/_cYdczmhTbc1DnoKk29J79ciUJW-ko15ACEwYBhgL/s1600/ToC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="383" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dAX60-zrKBY/WbK-2qHTABI/AAAAAAAAHD0/_cYdczmhTbc1DnoKk29J79ciUJW-ko15ACEwYBhgL/s640/ToC.jpg" width="490" /></a></div><br />Finally we have Trail of Cthulhu which promises to fix the ever popular misconception that failed rolls will leave an investigator floundering and stop the scenario dead in it's tracks. The GUMSHOE system uses only one d6 for resolving conflicts and the clues are automatically given to the players provided they utilize their skills appropriately. Player characters have investigation abilities and general abilities. The main difference between the two are that investigative abilities can always be used even if their pool is at zero. General abilities are gone once they are down to zero. Players use their ability pools to gather information to solve the mystery before losing all of their health or insanity. It is up to the players to narratively use their abilities to uncover clues and solve the mystery.<br /><br />I like the feeling of players rolling dice to randomize the outcome of a possible ability/skill. If the Keeper of Call of Cthulhu can improvise then the game wouldn't come to a screeching halt when a player fails a roll. I also like the use of ability pools in Trail of Cthulhu which give the player's more narrative control but I feel like there needs to be more dice rolling. The rules-light approach of Cthulhu Dark would definitely give more narrative control to the players while still rolling dice for random outcomes. My only concern with Cthulhu Dark is that the dice mechanic of Insight is almost entirely in the hands of the player.<br /><br />I can't decide which one is for me. <b>I need your help.</b> Tell me your thoughts on which one you think is best and why. What do you like about it and what do you dislike about it?<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s320/Logo.png" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;;" target="_blank">Nerds-International Google+ community page</a></div>Matt Starkhttps://plus.google.com/109756489860852016703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514595937073664352.post-41590458245712095872017-08-31T15:11:00.000-05:002017-08-31T15:11:15.653-05:00RPGaDay 2017 Day 31<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xFbB2wjp01c/WYBqZR_neDI/AAAAAAAAGMo/8ghi74Es5gYodRG0VSTWDD6bGKKMx2HUgCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/RPGaDay2017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="1521" height="268" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xFbB2wjp01c/WYBqZR_neDI/AAAAAAAAGMo/8ghi74Es5gYodRG0VSTWDD6bGKKMx2HUgCPcBGAYYCw/s640/RPGaDay2017.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">What do you anticipate most for gaming in 2018?</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Hooray! It's finally here. The last day of RPGaDay 2017. About damn time, right? I'm not really aware of any projects coming up for 2018 other than possibly the Savage Worlds core book, fantasy companion, and horror companion getting a facelift. I'm anticipating a great year of gaming and making new aquaintances and friends through the <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" target="_blank">Nerds-International Google&nbsp;+ community</a>, <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/110381300444033141528" target="_blank">Flippin' Tables Google&nbsp;+ community</a>, and <a href="https://www.fantasygrounds.com/home/home.php" target="_blank">Fantasy Grounds</a> conventions. These online communities have been great to meet new people and help me expand my game writing. My eyes have been opened to new game systems that I might have otherwise passed over because of the excellent people online. There are artistic, creative, and talented people all over the world who are available to chat with over the internet and I would have never had the opportunity to learn from had I not discovered Google&nbsp;+. I look forward to more games in 2018.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s320/Logo.png" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;;" target="_blank">Nerds-International Google+ community page</a></div></div>Matt Starkhttps://plus.google.com/109756489860852016703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514595937073664352.post-9386394502994917952017-08-30T08:22:00.002-05:002017-08-30T08:22:27.339-05:00RPGaDay 2017 Day 30<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xFbB2wjp01c/WYBqZR_neDI/AAAAAAAAGMo/8ghi74Es5gYodRG0VSTWDD6bGKKMx2HUgCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/RPGaDay2017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="1521" height="268" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xFbB2wjp01c/WYBqZR_neDI/AAAAAAAAGMo/8ghi74Es5gYodRG0VSTWDD6bGKKMx2HUgCPcBGAYYCw/s640/RPGaDay2017.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">What is an RPG genre-mashup you would most like to see?</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I would love to see a Savage Worlds StarWars mashup with some comedy. I will call it <b>Spaceballs</b>. Well, maybe I'd call it something else but you get the point. My friend Eric mentioned he'd like to see more comedy included in RPG's and I wholeheartedly agree. The last game I ran was Fuhgeddaboudit! and we laughed our asses off the whole time. When I looked over at the other table at the game store I saw people looking our way and I couldn't help but think they wanted to jump ship and join my game. That made me feel great. Comedy will always be welcome in my games and I wish more RPG's would incorporate it into theirs. There's even room in Cthulhu type games for some lighthearted comedy. Just don't go overboard, otherwise the game will never have that horrific feeling it's supposed to feel like.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s320/Logo.png" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;;" target="_blank">Nerds-International Google+ community page</a></div>Matt Starkhttps://plus.google.com/109756489860852016703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514595937073664352.post-50812421474258025212017-08-29T12:51:00.000-05:002017-08-29T12:51:10.682-05:00RPGaDay 2017 Day 29<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xFbB2wjp01c/WYBqZR_neDI/AAAAAAAAGMo/8ghi74Es5gYodRG0VSTWDD6bGKKMx2HUgCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/RPGaDay2017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="1521" height="268" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xFbB2wjp01c/WYBqZR_neDI/AAAAAAAAGMo/8ghi74Es5gYodRG0VSTWDD6bGKKMx2HUgCPcBGAYYCw/s640/RPGaDay2017.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">What has been the best-run RPG Kickstarter you have backed?</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This would have to be the very first Kickstarter campaign I backed. Robert Schwalb's Shadow of the Demon Lord set the bar high for my expectations of Kickstarter campaigns. He pumped out stretch goal after stretch goal like a mad man. There were so many that it got to a point where I didn't know if I had received all of the PDFs so I asked Rob if he could send me a list of everything released. He was very responsive and sent one to all the backers via a Kickstarter update. Then when my hardcover copy showed up at the door, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that he autographed the books also. Unfortunately for me, I now have high expectations for Kickstarter creators. I have backed 37 projects as of today and got burned on only 1. Yup, it happens and puts a sour taste in your mouth. I'd say I'm going to be more careful about who I back from now on but I don't think I'll really pay much attention to who the creators are. If I like the product then I'll probably back it.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ngDQJ4MZkgQ/WZg4mY9iHzI/AAAAAAAAGuM/14bOgAd3BCkS7GVgaqlOVNG6wjTRRgTOgCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Core.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="539" data-original-width="432" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ngDQJ4MZkgQ/WZg4mY9iHzI/AAAAAAAAGuM/14bOgAd3BCkS7GVgaqlOVNG6wjTRRgTOgCPcBGAYYCw/s640/Core.jpg" width="512" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s320/Logo.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;;" target="_blank">Nerds-International Google+ community page</a></div></div>Matt Starkhttps://plus.google.com/109756489860852016703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8514595937073664352.post-23665700583549435562017-08-28T07:54:00.001-05:002017-08-28T07:54:15.902-05:00RPGaDay 2017 Day 28<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xFbB2wjp01c/WYBqZR_neDI/AAAAAAAAGMo/8ghi74Es5gYodRG0VSTWDD6bGKKMx2HUgCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/RPGaDay2017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="1521" height="134" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xFbB2wjp01c/WYBqZR_neDI/AAAAAAAAGMo/8ghi74Es5gYodRG0VSTWDD6bGKKMx2HUgCPcBGAYYCw/s320/RPGaDay2017.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">What film/series is the biggest source of quotes in your group?</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This really depends on the game we're playing. If we're playing Ghostbusters then guess what movie we quote. Most of the time I find myself quoting a famous Cimmerian, "To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of thier women!". Otherwise we pretty much quote movies we've seen recently.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N_T8JrBQ2I4/WUkqgeMuxXI/AAAAAAAAFLs/JFulbIaYQ388WamE9b-6S4iPuDoxo2f3ACPcBGAYYCw/s320/Logo.png" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105871855933594998176" style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;;" target="_blank">Nerds-International Google+ community page</a></div>Matt Starkhttps://plus.google.com/109756489860852016703noreply@blogger.com0